Facing the heat: One woman, two life callings for Sara Tongel
- Chuck Thompson
- 3 hours ago
- 6 min read
By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent
If you don’t know Sara Tongel, you’ve more than likely seen or spoken to her if you have ever been to Norris Merchandise on S. Lafayette, just south of Shelby.
“I'm Secretary of State,” she laughed, when asked what her title is, when it comes to Norris Merchandise. “We’re a small family business, we don’t have a lot of employees; we just all pitch in and help everyone.”
She said everyone does everything from stocking shelves, running the register, to loading or delivering furniture, “Everyone just works; wherever, doing whatever that might be each day.”
“Being a ‘Mom and Pop’ business, you have to sell just about everything to survive,” she added. “We provide good customer service – we try our best to provide consistent customer service, which makes a difference. When you see these sponsors at the park, you don’t see corporate sponsors, you see local businesses that care about the customers and customer service.”
Tongel said there’s a certain amount of respect between employees and customers.
“Having good employees makes all the difference,” she explained. “If an employee needs a Saturday off to go to their kids game, then so be it, because I know I can count on them when I need them and our customers can, too.”
But Norris Merchandise, where you can find almost anything under the sun, isn’t the only place you can find Sara Tongel.
Besides running a business full-time and balancing family life, Tongel is also a volunteer firefighter (and a Captain) at Number 3 Fire Department since 2013 and sits on the Board of Shanghai Fire Department. Her dad currently is a board member at Number 3.
One of only two women currently at Number 3, and the only woman on the board at Shanghai, makes Tongel a rare commodity in the local world of fire departments in the southern end of Cleveland County. And business and fire departments go hand-in-hand for Tongel and her family history.
Her great-grandparents once had a store and filling station. Legend has it, Tongel’s great-grandfather, Clyde Bridges, put kerosene and hot coals to warm the place up and there was an explosion, causing flames to engulf the store and thus took his life. People rushed to save him, and someone had to call a taxi to take him to the hospital because an ambulance couldn’t get there.
Back then, Tongel said if you didn’t pay a specific fire tax the fire department couldn’t come out to rural areas, in certain places.
“This was one of those before county volunteer firefighter departments were firmly established,” she noted.
All the more reason why volunteer fire departments are crucial for the safety of communities.
Several years later, Tongel’s grandfather, Alvin Doc Bridges, helped to found Cleveland Fire Department, being involved in the charter and sitting on the board.
Bridges owned a slaughterhouse which would eventually become Norris Merchandise.
Tongel, now a captain with Number 3 Fire Department, was approached last year about the possibility of joining the Board at Shanghai.
Shanghai Fire Department is composed of 10 board members, five inside members, which are firefighters, and five community members, which can be anyone in the community.
In December 2024, David Oaks asked the Chief of Shanghai (at that time) Jimmy Queen if Tongel joining the board would be of any interest since there was nothing in the by-laws at that time which would conflict with her appointment.
She spoke of being part of both Number 3 and Shanghai VFD, “When the membership voted me in, I was ecstatic to say I was a third-generation fire department member. I feel like I made my family proud. I feel like I have things to offer the community and people don’t have to agree or support my ideas, but it’s about being a community and making the community a safe place through the fire department when something arises.”
Queen stated, “It would be a good idea to have her on the board,” which Oaks passed on to over 35 members via an email.
In general, all 13 volunteer departments in Cleveland County have changed a bit since Sara first joined Number 3 in 2013, going to paid staffing which comes out of Cleveland county’s fire tax. Each department was given guidelines, but with a little leeway on how to use it.
Tongel explained that in the past decade, if a call came in there wouldn’t be anyone staffed ready to go. Now, someone is there ready to roll, which has reduced the response time instead of waiting for first responders to drop what they’re doing to respond.
“It lowered insurance and increased response times, and that was the end goal,” she said.
Now, all volunteer departments in Cleveland County have some sort of on-duty firefighter on staff either 24 hours, or during specific allotted times.
“Sometimes it’s hard to find coverage, so we have to share people to fill shifts” she said, noting people from different departments will cover shifts at different fire departments.
The community board members share the same idea, sharing and helping one another at various departments, which she equates shared knowledge as the best way to help each department and is easier on taxpayers.
“Each department has a unique way they do things,” she said. “And that doesn’t make it better or worse, it really comes down to managing, leading, and the dedicated volunteer firefighters on staff.”
She continued, “Being on the board at a fire department is different – but all boards are slightly different.”
At a fire department, the board has to make sure they’re using their budget to the best of their ability to keep fire fighters and the community safe. This happens through proper attire, gear, trucks and training.
“We have to do it within a budget and do it with taxpayer money,” she said. “As long as we use it correctly, to the best of our ability – when someone calls 911, they are there, ready to help – and that’s what the board is all about, making sure everything and everyone at a fire department is ready for the next call.”
She said the hardest part of being a volunteer is staffing and recruiting volunteers. “We have to recruit and keep retention,” she said, noting it’s the chief and assistant chief’s job to recruit, but the board is there to support the chief in his or her efforts.
And although all it’s mostly positivity in the department, she feels there’s been a bit of a gap between communication of the fire department and the Shanghai community, but states she believes they are constantly working to improve that for the community to feel involved and transparent.
“If a community member in our district comes in and wants to see our books, they have the right since they’re paying for it with their tax dollars,” Tongel noted.
She said transparency is important at any fire department and one of her goals in 2026.
Tongel said the firefighters and the board members of Shanghai Fire Department are what makes it a great fire department to be involved with, along with Number 3, too.
“Shanghai is a great group of people,” she said. “I love those guys at Shanghai. Anyone in the community should know they would be there for them in a heartbeat. We also have a good board coming into 2026. I think we will make good choices for the future, and the community should know they can come to the fire department if they have questions, or need help, or just want to know more about what we do. We always have – and will continue to do – our best for the Shanghai community.”
“It’s been good, Tongel continued. “It’s been a positive experience and I’m looking forward to the new board members coming on and I look forward to being there for my community every day, and that the fire department succeeds.”
Tongel also believes that Shanghai can be one of the best departments in Cleveland County and has been on that tract and will continue to improve.
“We just have to keep striving to be the best we can be, and I truly believe we are and can be one of the best,” she stated firmly.
Even in the wake of recent unexpected resignations over the past month, she said the Shanghai Board is working toward electing a new chairman and a new chief at their first meeting of 2026.
“I have been very impressed by the leadership that has stepped up in that department,” she added. “It was shocking to everybody when they decided to resign, and yet we’re keeping our heads up and rocking and rolling forward and that makes my heart happy that the morale is staying up and with volunteers working other jobs, some of them two or more, the enthusiasm is still strong and I look forward working with them in 2026 and beyond.”
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Chuck Thompson is a reporter and columnist for The Shelby Independent.
The Shelby Independent, copyright 2026.