Funeral procession for local firefighter to pass through Black Mountain

Services for Garrett Presnell will be held in Marion

The Valley Echo
September 6, 2021

A funeral service for local firefighter Garrett Presnell will be held at 1 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 7, at the Tom Johnson Rally Park in Marion. A procession escorting the body of Presnell will pass through the Town of Black Mountain at approximately 7:30 a.m. Photo courtesy of BMFD

A funeral procession for Garrett Presnell, who passed away, Aug. 31, after battling COVID-19, will pass through downtown Black Mountain, where he served as a full-time firefighter for the Black Mountain Fire Department. 

The escort, which will transport the body of Presnell to a 1 p.m. service at the Tom Johnson Rally Park in Marion, is expected to arrive in Black Mountain at 7:30 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 7.

The funeral for the 28-year-old Presnell will be officiated by Reverends Jimmy Upton, Jeffrey Parker and BMFD Chief Scottie Harris, according to a Sept. 4 press release from the Town of Black Mountain. The service will be streamed on Facebook Live through the McDowell County 911 Emergency Management page, and on YouTube Live through the Town of Black Mountain channel. The internment will be private.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Presnell family requests that media and members of the public wear a mask and follow social distancing. This will be a limited contact event with every effort made to ensure the safety of the public and the family. The family requests members of the public remain in their vehicles for the service, which will be broadcast on 88.3 FM.

The procession will leave Beam’s Funeral Home in Marion Tuesday morning, traveling west on I-40 to Black Mountain. The vehicle escort will pause in front of BMFD Station 1, at Montreat Road and State Street, before heading east through Old Fort. It will return to Tom Johnson Rally Park at approximately 9 a.m. 

Presnell was a full-time firefighter in Black Mountain, volunteer lieutenant for the Sugar Hill-Montford Fire Department and president of the McDowell County Fire & Rescue Association. The McDowell County native also served with the North Cove, Pleasant Gardens and Old Fort departments.