The Collins River Fire Department routinely inspects water pressure during training and equipment checks.
A COMMUNITY Volunteer fire departments serve rural areas BY LISA SAVAGE
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mid the ruins of his burned barn, the elderly man’s family helped him back inside his rambling farmhouse. He had left hours earlier after his barn caught fire. While it was too late to save the barn, firefighters had worked feverishly, spraying water on the farmhouse.
“The old boards on that house got so hot,” Coalmont Fire Chief Gene Richard says. “And it took everything we had to save it.” Once firefighters extinguished the blazing barn, the man returned to his home. Years later, it’s an image that still reminds Richard why volunteers train and prepare, with no pay, for their work. “As they carried him back in, it just hit me that if it hadn’t been for the fire depart12 | November/December 2018
ments, he wouldn’t have had a house to go back to. He lost his barn, but if we hadn’t been there, he would have lost his home, too,” Richard says. “That has stayed with me. We love our community, and that’s why we do it.”
KEEPING COMMUNITIES SAFE Volunteer fire departments are a necessity in rural communities. The volunteers work and train hard to provide service to their neighbors. They make no money for their efforts, and they spend their time and talents keeping their communities safe. Most departments work together, helping each other out by providing mutual aid and sometimes even crossing county boundaries. Collins River Fire Department in southeast Warren County also covers a por-
tion of Grundy County for the Beersheba Springs Fire Department. “We cover everything for them up to the foot of the mountain,” says Collins River Fire Chief David Milstead. “That way, they don’t have to bring their trucks off the mountain, especially in winter, and that’s much safer.” Some departments only respond to fires, but some also answer medical calls or specialize in a specific field, such as highangle rope rescues. This type of rescue is especially important in some of the area’s terrain. “It’s not uncommon to have people fall off bluffs,” Richard says. “After we had three incidents close together, we decided we would specialize in rope rescue.” Before, a rescue team came from Chattanooga. Coalmont Fire Department now has the necessary equipment for such situations, Ben Lomand Connect
