By Ron Semple
Special to the Enterprise

Davie County’s two largest fire departments recently endured three days of surprise safety inspections by North Carolina’s Department of Labor and emerged unscathed.
A pair of state occupational health and safety experts conducted separate inspections that each lasted approximately 24 hours spread over three days at the Advance and Mocksville fire departments.
Violations detected during these thorough inspections can draw heavy cash fines. Not a single violation was found at either department and both were declared compliant by the Department of Labor.
Not that these kind of unannounced inspections don’t cause some tense moments.
At Advance, Firefighter Daniel Burke answered the knock on the door at 8 a.m. Burke, a full-time firefighter in Charlotte, spotted the big DOL on the back of the inspectors’ jackets. His reaction was the firehouse equivalent of “Oh, my”   but he opened the door anyway .
In Mocksville it was Assistant Fire Chief Jason Myrich who greeted the inspectors. Myrich, who is a full-time fire captain in Statesville, quickly phoned Mocksville’s fire chief, Frank Carter, and said, “You better get back here, Chief.”
Carter, also a captain in Statesville, was on duty and unavailable. His message: “Good luck.”
Mocksville didn’t need any …