A Community Spark

Volunteer Fire Departments Serve Rural Areas

BY LISA SAVAGE

Amid 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 departments, 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 portion 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, and many members are certified in rope and high-angle rescue. Coalmont often assists other departments.

Collins River firefighter Ethan Mabe drives the department’s engine to refill the tank during a training exercise.

VOLUNTEERS AND TRAINING

The volunteer departments receive very little government funding and depend on fundraisers and donations to have enough money to pay for fuel and utilities at the fire stations. Grants help pay for much of the equipment, but that’s still not enough for operations.

Some departments seek annual contributions from residents in the communities. “The donations we get from the residents help us to keep our doors open,” Milstead says. “In most departments, it’s a small cost to pay for the services provided. The departments respond to fires, medical calls, wrecks, and even calls for cats in trees. Sometimes people don’t realize how important the services are until needed. We rely on the generosity of those who live in our service areas.”

Many departments have fundraisers throughout the year. An all-you-can-eat ham breakfast or the sale of Boston butts are just some of the Hickory Valley Fire Department’s annual fundraisers. “That’s really what gets us through,” Hickory Valley Fire Chief Tyler Brandes says.

Back in the days when volunteer departments first organized, just about anybody could join. Now, the state of Tennessee requires an accredited 64-hour basic firefighting course for all volunteers.

“We agree wholeheartedly with the training requirement, but it makes it a little more difficult to have enough members to do our jobs,” Richard says. “Like all departments, our biggest problems are recruitment and retention.”

The number of volunteers is lower than it’s ever been for all departments. Those who do volunteer are dedicated to their communities and want to make a difference. “But very few people are interested anymore,” Milstead says. “You’ve got to want to give back to your community. If you can help someone, it makes everything — all the work — worth it.”

Training and equipment can make a difference in each department’s Insurance Service Office rating. The ISO rating helps determine the cost of homeowners insurance premiums. Scores for fire departments across the country are between 1 and 10, with a 1 being the best. The scores are based on the number of fire hydrants, the water supply, the number of stations for the area and other factors.

Some departments are now able to lower their rating by having automatic mutual aid agreements with other departments for all fires. Having tanker trucks and bringing those to assist with water supply on fires in rural areas also makes a big difference.

“The only way any of us would improve our rating is to have automatic aid,” Richard says. “But that’s important to us because everything we can do to keep the cost of insurance down for those in our communities is good for us all."

BLAZING BROADBAND

Technology makes a difference in operations as well. Most fire departments have internet service at their fire stations, which makes uploading information to the online state and federal databases much easier. They are required to report information about all fires to the National Fire Incident Reporting System, which FEMA manages, to track statistics and trends and improve fire services.

“We do our reports manually on the scene,” Brandes says. “Before, we’d have to mail them in. Now we go back to the station, upload the information and do it all online in a matter of a few minutes.”

Most departments use the internet to update Facebook and other social media to help keep those in their communities informed. They can post safety tips; photos of firefighters working, training or visiting students at schools; updates about the latest fundraisers; or any other information they need to share with their communities.

It’s a great tool to reach as many people in the community as possible. “Our communities are, after all, why we do what we do,” Brandes says. “It’s great to be able to keep them informed.”