Progress 2020

Franklin County On the front lines 2020

Contact Russellville City Hall at 256-332-6060 304 Jackson Ave. N Russellville, AL

Russellville City Councilmen David Palmer, William Nale, Arthur Elliott, Jamie Harris, Gary Cummings, and Mayor David Grissom

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PROGRESS 2020

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PROGRESS 2020

Letter from the Editor

H

ave you ever heard the expression “drinking from a fire hose”? You probably have. Well, appropriately, after tackling this year’s Progress theme, I think I know what that feels like.

Every year we look at “progress” from different angles in this annual special edition. In the four years I have been with the Franklin County Times, we have spotlighted star students destined to shape the world; historic homes and what they mean to our past and future; Franklin families and what family means to us all; and, last year, nostalgic vignettes of our county’s past.

This year, we delve deep into firefighting in Franklin County – from the beginning to now and to hopes for the future.

Did you know Franklin County has 14 fire departments – 13 of them volunteer? Within the pages of this issue, you’ll learn just a little bit about the history of each, from their origins to the challenges they have faced and continue to face in providing superior fire service to our communities.

I have enjoyed every minute I have spent talking to our local fire chiefs and other fire personnel, and I have learned so much. Truth be told, I choose each year’s

theme with our readers in mind, of course – but I also always choose something that appeals to me personally, and I was and am so excited about this year’s theme.

It was a bit daunting, at times, to try to adequately share so much information. I hope I have done our VFDs justice.

It takes a brave, self-sacrificing man or woman to step up and be a firefighter.

It takes courage and commitment to haul a hose, extricate someone from the wreckage of their vehicle or do chest compressions and save a fellow citizen from a heart attack.

We have many of those courageous men and women here in Franklin County, and we need more.

I hope this issue will inspire you to thank a firefighter or fire support personnel for the work they do in keeping our county safe, and I hope it tells the story of a crucial part of our communities.

Alison James Managing Editor

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Table of Contents 4 6

Letter from the Editor Franklin County Fire and Rescue Association ISO: Putting money back in homeowners’ pockets

7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 28 29 30 P.O. Box 1088 14131 Highway 43 Russellville, AL 35653 256-332-1881 fax: 256-332-1883 www.franklincountytimes.com

Belgreen Volunteer Fire Department Blue Springs Volunteer Fire Department Burnout Volunteer Fire Department East Franklin Volunteer Fire Department Frankfort Volunteer Fire Department Funding: Required for growth Frog Pond Volunteer Fire Department Fire Safety Facts Gravel Hill Volunteer Fire Department Calendar of Fundraisers Hodges Volunteer Fire Department Cooperation: Key to county protection Phil Campbell Volunteer Fire Department Recruitment: Taking the spotlight Pleasant Site Volunteer Fire Department Community support: The confidence to keep on Red Bay Volunteer Fire Department Russellville Fire Department Tharptown Volunteer Fire Department Training: Driving firefighter readiness Vina Volunteer Fire Department

Alison James and Ciera Hughes Marketing Tori Waits and Peggy Hyde Administrative Sommer Morris Editorial

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Better ISO ratings mean more money in homeowners’ pockets

O From left: George Hutto, John James and Ron Coats

Fire association promotes unity, collaboration among VFDs

E

very month, at a different fire or rescue squad station across Franklin County, a group of men and women come together to discuss firefighting in Franklin.

They hear about training opportunities, discuss grants and other funding availability, tackle departmental challenges and make plans for how to provide even better service and protection to their communities.

This is the Franklin County Fire and Rescue Association.

Although each volunteer fire department and rescue squad in Franklin County has its own distinct personnel, facilities, equipment and coverage area, they do not stand alone.

Franklin County fire and rescue response services are built on the values of cooperation and mutual aid, and that starts with the fire association.

Counting the two ambulance services in the county plus Russellville Fire Department, total association membership is 21 separate – but united – entities.

“Our function is to pool resources and work on issues for all of those agencies,” explained John James, current president of the association.

Association officers – president, vice president, secretary and treasurer – are elected each year; 2020 is James’ second consecutive year to serve, and he has served previous terms in the association’s history.

JOHN JAMES Fire and Rescue Association President James said the county association formed in 1982, just as VFDs were beginning to pop up across Franklin County.

Fire chiefs saw a need to meet together to help one another grow and improve, finding the old adage true: There is strength in numbers.

James himself has been involved in the association since 1987. An Alabama Fire College retiree and former Russellville Fire Department firefighter, James supervises Keller Ambulance in Russellville and still serves as a volunteer at RFD. As president, he leads association meetings, disseminates information to all departments, oversees some of

the funding and takes the lead in helping all departments move forward in areas of training and recruitment. He is joined at the helm for 2020 by vice president Doug Coan, who is the Tharptown VFD chief; secretary George Hutto, who is president of the board of the Frog Pond VFD; and treasurer Ron Coats, assistant chief at Hodges VFD. Franklin County’s association, James said, mirrors those in other counties across the state and nation – with a couple of differences.

“A lot of them are strictly just fire departments, and a lot of them are strictly volunteer.

Ours, of course, has Russellville, and we also have the rescue squads and ambulance services,” James said Every department sends a representative to the monthly meetings, either its chief or a designated member. Meetings are hosted in rotation by each department around the county.

Though this collaboration, Franklin County’s VFDs and other rescue services are empowered to serve and protect their local communities – continuing a legacy and tradition of service also upheld by their fellow volunteers across the nation.

“The nation as a whole – 65 percent is protected by volunteer fire departments,” James noted. “The majority of those communities are 10,000 people or less – which holds true for us.”

ne thing homeowners might not understand is that a better fire department doesn’t just mean faster, more effective response to a fire, wreck or rescue situation.

It can also mean an easier hit to the wallet when it comes to homeowners’ insurance.

“The fire service is the only city service – government service – that actually puts money back in the homeowner’s pocket,” explained Franklin County Fire and Rescue Association president John James. “You pay your own garbage bill, you pay your electric bill … but the fire service is rated and gets a grade based on a lot of factors, and that changes the homeowner’s insurance rating.

So the better the department, the more efficient, the more things they can do – it lowers that rating, so it actually puts money back in your pocket.”

As explained by www. isomitigation.com, ISO’s Fire Suppression Rating Schedule evaluates four primary categories to grade local fire services: fire department, emergency communications, water supply and community risk reduction. The FSRS includes standards set by the National Fire Protection Association.

Through the Public Protection Classification program, ISO evaluates municipal fire-protection efforts in communities throughout the United States and issues a rating based on those factors.

“A community’s investment in fire mitigation is a proven and reliable predictor of future fire losses,” explains the ISO mitigation site. “So insurance companies use PPC information to help establish fair premiums for fire insurance — generally offering lower premiums in communities with better protection. Many communities use the PPC as a benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of their fire-protection services.

The PPC program is also a tool that helps communities plan for, budget and justify improvements.”

Departments are rated from one to 10. Class 1 represents superior property fire protection, and Class 10 indicates the area’s firesuppression program doesn’t meet ISO’s minimum criteria – essentially, that no service even exists in the area.

“By classifying communities’ ability to suppress fires, ISO helps the communities evaluate their public fireprotection services,” the ISO website goes on to explain. “The program provides an objective, countrywide standard that helps fire departments in planning and budgeting for facilities, equipment and training, and by securing lower fire insurance premiums for communities with better public protection, the PPC program provides incentives and rewards for communities that choose to improve their firefighting services.”

What does that boil down to?

More fire hydrants equals a better ISO rating.

Newer equipment equals a better ISO rating.

Higher quality facilities equal a better ISO rating.

A greater number of firefighters equals a faster response – equals a better ISO rating.

Local departments are rated as follows for service in their respective districts: • Belgreen: 6 • Blue Springs: 5 • Burnout/Halltown: 6 • East Franklin: 6 • Frankfort: 6 • Frog Pond: 6 • Gravel Hill: 5 • Hodges: 5 • Phil Campbell: 6 • Pleasant Site: 7 • Red Bay: 5 • Russellville: 2 • Tharptown: 6 • Vina: 5

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BELGREEN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

t was in 1979 that Belgreen Volunteer Fire Department was first incorporated to provide protection and service in the Belgreen area. It was a few months later that nowchief Robin Grissom joined the force.

“I was younger back then, in my mid-20s,” Grissom said.

“I just wanted to help make the community a better place to live – and safer. We had no fire protection in our community because Russellville is 10 miles away. There was a need.”

About 30 people recognized that need in the early days and banded together to meet it.

“Back in those days you only had to be on call maybe two weeks out of the month – we had enough members to rotate teams,” Grissom explained.

That number shrank over the years, with the department now boasting an active force of 12. “Through the years and evolution of time, people move off or lose interest … but

there’s quite a few original members that are still in the department.”

Grissom rose to chief in the early 2000s when the previous chief was deployed to Kuwait. As the department lead at Belgreen, Grissom faces challenges nearly all rural chiefs come up against at one point or another – from recruitment and response time to water supply and communications – which can be particularly tricky in the most rural spots.

“You’ve got to be able to communicate,” Grissom emphasized. “We’ve got a pretty good system now, but there are certain parts, when you get out in the low spots, where you might not have communication, and that’s a big concern.”

Grissom said Belgreen’s calls are often for woods and grass fires, especially on windy, dry days. Medical calls are also common, whether it’s Keller Ambulance needing assistance or a citizen who has experienced

ROBIN GRISSOM Fire Chief

Chief Joe Fike

• • • • •

New Mar-Jac Hatchery in Phil Campbell Industrial Park New Plant - Leisure Creations opened in Phil Campbell New Bath House at Splash Pad Under Construction Continuing work on Phil Campbell’s 80 acre Industrial Park Welcoming New Industries!

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PROGRESS 2020

Through the years and evolution of time, people move off or lose interest … but there’s quite a few original members that are still in the department.

a fall. The Belgreen department takes 30-40 calls per year.

From rescues to full-on fires, Belgreen boasts an arsenal of equipment and trucks. Two pumpers, a 5,000-gallon tanker, a service truck and two brush trucks comprise Belgreen’s fleet.

For Grissom, as for many volunteer firefighters, serving comes down to “just the satisfaction of trying to make our community safe and a better place to live.”

“We’ve got a good department,” Grissom added.

Giant smokers allow the Belgreen VFD to cook nearly 200 Boston butts twice a year, a successful fundraiser for the department.

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District Attorney’s Office Serving Franklin County

We would be honored to assist you in prearranging your services or in your time of need.

L-R standing; Mike Prince, District Attorney Joey Rushing, Assistant District Attorney Jeff Barksdale & Terry Zills L-R sitting; Courtney Wallace, Ann Woodruff & Mandy Cummings

Defending Your Rights - Collects worthless checks and service fees.

- Prosecutes parents who fail to pay child support.

- Handles all felony offenses committed in Franklin County.

- Represents crime victims and collects restitution for victims of criminal activity.

- Restitution Recovery Unit collects court ordered money owed to victims.

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BLUE SPRINGS VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

W

hen Mary Hallman-Glass gets ready to go to work in the morning, she isn’t just the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency director, nor just the Blue Springs Volunteer Fire Department chief.

She’s both.

“During my interview for EMA director, I told them, ‘That fire department and the people in that community depend on me. I will not quit the fire department,’” Hallman-Glass said. “So they knew it when they hired me. They knew I wasn’t going to quit. I can’t. Too many people depend on me, and I’m not going to let them down. I am very passionate about this fire department.”

Hallman-Glass practically grew up a volunteer firefighter as her parents, Alton and Shirley Hallman, were among the founding members of the Blue Springs department in 1980. She and her brother – Larry Hallman, current assistant chief – along with other children of the original members spent their childhoods attending department meetings and even, as teenagers, getting on the front lines and fighting fires alongside their parents.

The department has continued as a family affair across the generations. Jonathan Eagle, current captain, grew up in the department, and his cousin Edgar Ergle was the first chief.

Hallman-Glass’ husband David is in the department, and her parents are still involved to this day, as are founding members Resa Ergle and Phillip Ergle.

Leon Ergle and Hollis Wilson are among those who helped start the department, and though they have since passed away, they still have family members involved.

Blue Springs VFD began in Edgar Ergle’s garage. He owned a wrecker/towing business and had space for the group’s truck and equipment.

“Russellville Fire Department was having to run everything, and somebody’s house burned down in East Franklin,” Hallman-Glass recalled. That fire was a catalyst that led to the formation of the first VFD in Franklin County, the East Franklin department, and Blue Springs soon followed suit.

Hallman-Glass said when Edgar Ergle pronounced the Blue

Springs community was going to start a fire department, everyone fell right in line. “Everybody respected Edgar,” she said. “They just all came up here and joined and started a fire department.”

When making decisions, department members still lean on “what Edgar would have done,” honoring his legacy of service.

Hallman-Glass has been chief for 25-plus years, a role she took on after serving as assistant chief right out of high school in 1991.

“I love helping people,” HallmanGlass said. “If we don’t do it, they have to wait so long to get help because we are so rural …

Helping a family member when something’s going wrong – you might not be able to do anything, but they know you are there.”

Although she has faced the gamut of challenges as a rural fire chief, Hallman-Glass said a higher power has kept her in the role: God wouldn’t let her quit.

Even in moments of frustration when she was ready to hang up her hat, she has found herself continuing with the department in spite of it all. “We do this because we love to help people.”

Hallman-Glass said she sees her work in the fire department as what led to her job as EMA director – part of God’s bigger plan. She counts getting the EMA position as one of her biggest blessings. “It means so much, I can’t put it in words,” she said, adding she thinks of it as a reward for her years of serving as a volunteer. “Some people might not look at it that way, but I do.”

There’s no arguing HallmanGlass has a challenging job, on both the EMA side and the VFD side – a job that has led to both challenging and heartbreaking situations. “You never unsee what you see. I can tell you every call, every wreck, everything that I have been on,” she said. “You just have to learn to deal with that.”

It’s the times when she is able to make a difference, however, that make it all worth it. “It’s hard to put in words. You get a feeling when you help somebody. You never get that feeling until you help somebody else,” she said.

“There’s just no way to put into words the feeling you get when you save somebody’s life.”

Along with expertise and training, Hallman-Glass and

MARY HALLMAN-GLASS Fire Chief her department can give credit for their lifesaving abilities to the improved equipment they have acquired over time. The department just put a Hummer in service as a grass truck, and in 2010 the department had put enough equipment and procedures in place to improve its ISO rating from a nine to a five; Hallman-Glass said they hope to possibly even improve to a four when they are evaluated again this year. “We’re doing things, and I can see progress,” she said.

The Blue Springs VFD averages 60-80 medical calls per year, plus a dozen or so fire calls.

“We’re a great fire department.

I’ve got the best members and firemen that I could ever have,” Hallman-Glass said. With a membership of 22 firefighters and

support personnel, Blue Springs VFD is ready to face the next 40 years. “The fire department is going to always be here. We’re

not going anywhere,” she said. “If something happens to me today, somebody will step up, and we will continue.”

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BURNOUT/HALLTOWN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

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he newest fire chief in Franklin County, Todd James has been at the helm of the Burnout and Halltown Fire Department since November of this past year. James’ service as a firefighter at Burnout dates back to 2009.

“I was always interested in it as a kid,” said James, who is also manager of the Red Bay Sewer Department and works with the street department as well. His father joined the department three years before James did, and James’ son Kade, 19, was the next to sign up, making it a truly multi-generational effort.

The three now serve as part of the 20-member department.

“I’m tickled to death that Kade’s interested in it and wants to do it,” James said. “It made me really happy when he wanted to join.” The Vina senior graduates in May. James took over as chief when previous chief Roger Puckett retired. “I was assistant chief before, and some of the other members approached me about being chief,” James said. “I said that’s fine if that’s what y’all want.”

The Burnout/Halltown department was incorporated in 1988 “It’s a community service we provide,” said James. His department responds to about 2025 calls per years.

Goals for James include getting the department a new pumper truck and a new brush truck, hopefully with the help of some grant funding. New turnout gear and air packs are also on the list. “We’re trying to upgrade a few things that we haven’t been able to do in years that need to be upgraded … Stuff is pretty much to the point of being worn out and needs to be replaced.”

James said he hopes to see the force grow in terms of membership – and prospects seem good. “Here in the past month or two we’ve had three or four members join, and I’ve gotten word there’s a couple more wanting to join too,” James said.

TODD JAMES Fire Chief

It makes me feel good to know that everybody sees what kind of job we’re doing and appreciates it.

James said the Burnout/ Halltown department enjoys great community support.

“They appreciate everything you do and they tell you. They’ll compliment you. We’ve got a lot of support from the community,” he said. “It makes you feel good.

I’m tickled to death. It makes me feel good for somebody to come in and tell me how good a job we did or thank us and then to hear other people talk it down the road.”

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EAST FRANKLIN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

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oday Franklin County can boast 13 volunteer fire departments serving communities from county line to county line. In the late 1970s, however, such was not the case.

A devastating house fire opened one area’s eyes to the need for increased fire protection – leading to the birth of the East Franklin Volunteer Fire Department in 1978.

“We wanted to help our community.

We love our community out here,” said Johnny Smith, who was among the dozen or so citizens who banded together to start the department. Smith volunteered his shop as a space for the fledgling department to build its fire truck – an undertaking members carried out by hand, outfitting a ’71 Ford dump truck with a homemade pump. “It would spray water. That was all that mattered.” The department also acquired an Army truck from the forestry service in those early years and obtained some surplus turnout gear for firefighters to wear.

“We wanted our families to have a decent chance of surviving a wreck or a fire,” added Larry Plott, who was also on the force in the early days.

Original member Alton Weeks is still active in the department. “It was just a needed thing, and a bunch of us got in it, got it started and went through with it,” Weeks said. “Somebody had to do it.”

From Smith’s shop the department grew to occupy an unused chicken house until members finally built a proper fire station. As the department continued to grow and improve, it built a new station and moved primary operations there, to its current location, in 2014. The old station is still in use to house a truck or two.

Chief Rodney Alexander joined the force in 1995 at the encouragement of a coworker, who was a volunteer firefighter in Haleyville. “He was asking me why didn’t I join the fire department, since I lived in the community. I told him I never really had thought about it,” Alexander said. “I thought, ‘Well, I’ll go up there and check it out.’” His interest grew, and

when the Franklin County Fire and Rescue Association offered a 160-hour Alabama certified volunteer fire department course, he decided to take it.

“It was a very valuable class to take,” Alexander said. “I ate it up. I loved it. I enjoyed going, and in every class we had, I learned something new.”

Alexander rose to chief of the department and discovered the administrative side of firefighting. By pursuing federal grant funding, he was able to help the department grow with new turnout gear, a pumper/ tanker and a small rescue truck.

Grant funding also provided the department with its own machine to fill its air bottles; EFVFD is the only volunteer department in Franklin County to have one.

Alexander said he enjoys “doing what I can to build on what these guys started.”

“It’s not only me. Everybody in the fire department helps do what needs to be done; one person can’t do it all,” Alexander said. He and his 15-member department, which includes several paramedics and EMTs, respond to about 45-50 medical calls per year, along with the occasional fire.

Although grant funding and the fire fee have been crucial to East Franklin’s effectiveness and success, the department also still counts on fundraisers.

Semiannual fundraisers are coordinated by the fire board, which is chaired by William Bishop – a key contributor to successful fundraisers for the department with his prized smoked chicken and pork. “He’s fantastic,” praised Plott, who is also a member of the board along with Smith.

“They’ve got the fundraising thing down pat,” Alexander said.

Whether it’s grants or barbecue plates or fire fees, it all comes down to helping people and saving lives. That’s what Alexander and current and former EFVFD firefighters think of when they reflect on their history of service – and their future.

“I feel like today we have one of the most state-of-the-art fire departments in any county,” Smith said.

RODNEY ALEXANDER Fire Chief

LARRY PLOTT Fire Board

East Franklin VFD started in Johnny Smith’s shop.

JOHNNY SMITH Fire Board

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FRANKFORT VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

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n the mid-1800s the booming town of Frankfort was the county seat of Franklin County, a central location for the courthouse and the jail.

Today Frankfort’s county seat days are long behind it, but this small area on the northern county line is still a thriving community in its own right – complete with the Frankfort Volunteer Fire Department at the intersection of Highway 49 and Highway 41. It sits alongside the community center and the community storm shelter, which the VFD had a hand in acquiring.

The department was first established in the early 1980s, formed and staffed by friends and kinfolk. The current fire chief, Chief Brian Bragwell, said he remembers childhood days spent growing up in and around the department, as his father Curtis was the chief then.

When his father decided to retire in 2004, it was during a time when much of the “old guard” was retiring or burning out. Bragwell said for years he had watched the original members as they “busted their tails from the bottom, trying to build everything in the early 80s. They had to do it the hard way.” He decided to step up as chief to continue their legacy.

“We started over with a whole younger generation and tried to recruit as many folks as we could to build it,” Bragwell said. “We’ve seen it grow since then.”

Keeping a rural department thriving is no easy task, and even an injection of new, youthful enthusiasm can’t complete overcome that reality. Despite the renewed passion and vigor, Frankfort has of course had its share of challenges with staffing, given its volunteer nature. Today the VFD has eight active firefighters, one member who covers meetings and a secretary/treasurer who handles paperwork – “not nearly enough to run, but we make do,” Bragwell said.

Like most fire chiefs, Bragwell has a full-time day job himself, in the midst of which he tries to see that his

firefighters are in place and the station and its trucks and equipment are well maintained. “Nobody is paid, and most of us work full-time jobs,” he said. “We just try to provide the best protection we can for the community.

“We would hate to see something happen to the fire department and not have it,” he added. “The department at one time was threatening to close down … We knew when we took over it was time to step up and start looking out for the people who are here.”

Summer wildfires are one call the Frankfort VFD faces, but with its large elderly population, Frankfort largely relies on the VFD to answer medical calls. Bragwell said his department will often respond alongside the ambulance service and provide lift assist or scene assessment.

“If it wasn’t for us, that person laying on the floor helpless – their family might be at work or out of town or live in a different city, and they depend on us to help them when they are helpless,” Bragwell said.

The department purchased a new tanker pumper in 2006 and also has second pumper and a grass truck. Bragwell said he hopes to use fire fee money to upgrade the grass truck and purchase some auxiliary equipment – maybe even an ATV with a skid unit.

In addition to having an eye toward new equipment, Bragwell said Frankfort would – like most departments – benefit from increased manpower. “Just like any department, you always want to see it grow as big as it can to help the public. It would be great if all these rural communities had a full-time department, but I know that’s taking it to the extreme.”

Bragwell said he hopes the community knows the VFD is there to help when the need arises. “We’ve never turned a call down if we’ve had somebody in the position to cover it,” he said. “We try to drop everything we’re doing when that call comes in, to serve the public.”

We would hate to see something happen to the fire department and not have it.

The department at one time was threatening to close down … We knew when we took over it was time to step up and start looking out for the people who are here.

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Department growth requires increased funding

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ith price tags like $200 for a helmet or $300 for a pair of boots to $8,000 for a skid unit or $9,000 for a truck repair, it’s no wonder fire department funding goes quickly and is the biggest factor in what a VFD is able to accomplish.

“It takes so much to run a department,” noted Tony Armstrong, chief at Pleasant Site. “Expenses can get really high.”

Insurance – on the fire station as well as the trucks – also comes with a hefty price tag. “That doesn’t come free. It has to be paid for,” said Hodges Chief Lesley Cantrell.

In Franklin County, only the City of Russellville has a fully paid department. Vina, with its municipality-affiliated department, has received support from the town, and Red Bay gets a city budget for equipment. Even the VFDs with municipality support, however, face funding challenges, which is all the more true for the even more rural FC departments.

FUNDRAISERS Community fundraisers have long been a mainstay for VFDs, with many local departments being built from the ground up thanks to raffles, pancake breakfasts, chicken stew sales and generous donations.

“It’s difficult for any volunteer fire department in this county to get money to build an adequate station,” said East Franklin Fire Chief Rodney Alexander.

“During the time when (East Franklin VFD’s founding members) started the fire department, there weren’t any specific funds out there for that.

You had to beg and borrow and have a gazillion fundraisers just to get started.”

For many Franklin departments, fundraisers remain a crucial source of income. Whether it’s Belgreen’s biannual Boston butt sale, Vina’s JulyFest or Frog Pond’s pancake breakfast, a community’s support of fundraisers keeps it’s VFD going.

Frequent fundraisers, however, are not always an option.

“We used to do fundraisers,” noted Armstrong, “but we’re

such a small community, it’s hard to do fundraisers because you exhaust the people if you’re just asking and asking, time after time.”

GRANTS Local departments have seen growth and improvement across the bar thanks to the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, coordinated by FEMA, which has helped provided needed equipment.

“We’ve been really successful in applying for grants,” noted Phil Campbell Fire Chief Mike Rice. “Since I’ve been here we’ve applied and gotten all new turnout gear for the whole department – about $2,000 a person … We’ve gotten 14 new air packs and 28 bottles, over the time I’ve been here.”

Grants have been a boon across the county, funding everything from radios to pumper trucks.

FIRE FEE For all but Belgreen and Frog Pond, which opted out of the Franklin County fire service, the annual appropriation of $36 per residence, collected from homeowners during property tax season, has been a major contributor to a consistent income stream for VFDs. “Before the fire fee, we were struggling,” said Blue Springs Chief Mary Hallman-Glass.

“There were times we used our own money to put fuel in these trucks, and we did it because we had to have fuel. I’ve bought my own equipment. Jonathan Ergle has bought his own equipment, and my brother and husband have bought their own equipment – because we couldn’t afford it.

“We’re getting a little bit of money, but we’re trying to put it back into the community,” she added. The fire fees from last year enabled Blue Springs VFD to outfit a Hummer for service as a grass truck to provide better protection for the community.

The department also replaced its tables and chairs. “Our tables and chairs we had … the tables were broke, half of them. We had them bolted up with 2-by-4’s – we were fixing them the best we could because we didn’t have any money to buy new tables and chairs. Those had been here

since the fire department has been here” – that’s 40 years.

“The fire service fee was an awesome thing for us,” agreed East Franklin Chief Rodney Alexander, “and I’m sure it was for everybody else. If you know you have x-amount of dollars coming, you’re not afraid to buy fuel for that truck. You’re not afraid to fix a broken emergency light. You’re not afraid to unhook a battery charger and put a battery on it – because you know you have those funds, and you know pretty close to the amount you’re going to get each year.”

According to the Franklin County Revenue Department, the fire fee brings about $120,000 per year for VFDs, divided out based on the number of residences in their jurisdiction.

“As a volunteer fire department, before we got the fire fee passed, it was a struggle,” said Vina Fire Chief Michael Moomaw. “When something tore up or air packs or something like

that didn’t meet the standards anymore, you’re wondering where that money is going to come from and how you’re going to pay for it.”

Aside from providing needed funds, voters agreeing to implement the fee was a shot of confidence and encouragement for local departments.

“It was pleasing to know there are people who understand what we do on a daily basis and that our efforts are not unseen,” Moomaw said. “It meant a lot to know they are willing to go the extra mile to help us – knowing what it was going to cost them.”

Wanda Gober with Gravel Hill Volunteer Fire Department said when the department’s funding came largely from people paying their fire dues, the support wasn’t always there.

“Now we’re getting the fire fee, and we can do more as far as equipment,” she said.

Gravel Hill Chief Frank Mitchell agreed. “Before, we

didn’t know how much we were going to get,” he pointed out.

“Now we can know and set our budgets around that.”

“The property tax money, I feel, is going to be really beneficial to all the departments across Franklin County.” agreed Frankfort Chief Brian Bragwell. “That’s a good bit of money; we basically lived off of the tobacco tax money for years – anywhere from $300400 a quarter. That’s what we lived off to pay the utilities and furnish the department.

That’s hard to do any upgrades, without that new money. It’s hard to even buy a battery to go on a truck, much less upgrade any equipment.”

Whether a department puts its funding toward newer or more equipment, increased training, fire station upkeep or insurance costs, it all comes down to one ultimate goal, as expressed by Moomaw: “to better our efforts in protecting the people we serve.”

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PROGRESS 2020

FROG POND VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

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s Franklin County’s newest fire department, established in 2004, Frog Pond VFD has been able to benefit from the foundation laid by other departments across the county.

Carl Pierce served as the first chief, from 2004-2018, and he has been present for the department’s growth since day one.

“Spruell Grissom called me and a lot of other people and wanted to know if we’d get together and talk about establishing a fire department,” Pierce said. “This area was taken care of by Belgreen, Gravel Hill, Phil Campbell and Blue Springs, and they have helped us a lot. The neighboring departments have really helped, and we’ve had a lot of help from Russellville.”

Russellville, in fact, could be considered the birthplace of the Frog Pond VFD. “Spruell wanted to get everybody together to just see if we wanted to try to establish a fire department; we decided we’d talk about it, so we were going to go to Russellville Station 2 and just meet with them and talk about it,” Pierce said. “When we got there, the instructor started classes for Firemanship I and II, and we were there, so we started the classes. We made a decision that night to start.”

Pierce said Frog Pond was able to develop quickly thanks to grants, donations and overall community support. The fire station, a former diesel mechanic shop, was donated by a local citizen for the VFD’s use. A 2,000-gallon tanker truck and a 1,000-gallon pumper, as well as a service truck and two grass trucks, make up the department’s fleet of vehicles; one truck was purchased through a grant, and the “green truck,” an unmissable shade of chartreuse, was donated

by Putnam Lake Fire Department in Patterson, N.Y., in 2007. A sticker on the window of the green pumper notes the truck’s involvement at Ground Zero in the days following 9/11.

In December 2018 Pierce relinquished the chief role to Darryl Taylor. As he completed his first year as chief in December 2019, Taylor had to undergo an unexpected quadruple bypass; Pierce said the VFD hopes Taylor will be back on his feet as chief again soon.

GEORGE HUTTO Fire Board President

CARL PIERCE Former Fire Chief “Darryl is a great guy,” said George Hutto, president of the Frog Pond Fire board, calling the chief a “thorough professional.” Pierce agreed.

“He’s had a lot of training – not just with the fire department but medical.” If the pressures of managing a rural fire department weren’t enough, Taylor also has chicken houses and is an elder in the church

at Belgreen, and his twin sons are junior firefighters at Frog Pond.

Hutto, who also serves as secretary of the Franklin County Fire Association, joined the department about six months after its formation. Like so many, he said he just wanted to embrace a way to help his community. “I had been a firefighter before when I lived

in a different state, and Spruell probably knew that,” Hutto said.

“Spruell really set this thing up. He was a motivator.

He could get people involved, and he was good at it,” said Pierce, who noted Grissom’s brother Howard was another key original member. The Grissoms were both active in the department until they passed away; completing the

trio was Ralph Wingo, who was instrumental in both the formation of the fire department as well as the acquisition of a storm shelter for Frog Pond.

Pierce said the department works a lot of car accident scenes, responding to about 2025 calls per year overall. Frog Pond has 15-20 firefighters plus support personnel who help with things like fundraisers.

PROGRESS 2020

Fanning the flames of fire safety

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g

15

ith a greater awareness of and adherence to the principles of fire safety, citizens can help fire departments across Franklin County by reducing the incidence of fires and other incidents. Here a few fire safety tips, provided by the National Fire Protection Association, that homeowners might want to keep in mind: 1. Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home – including the basement. It is best to use interconnected smoke alarms; when one sounds, they all sound.

2. Test all smoke alarms at least once a month, and replace them when they are 10 years old.

3. Install smoke alarms on the ceiling on high on a wall. Keep them away from the kitchen to reduce false alarms – at least 10 feet from the stove.

4. Choose a smoke alarm with strobe lights for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, or choose an alert device that will shake the bed or emit a mixture of hight and lowpitched sounds to further aid those with hearing difficulties.

5. Stay in the kitchen while frying, boiling, grilling or broiling, and regularly check on food that is simmering, baking or roasting. The leading cause of fires in the kitchen is unattended cooking.

6. In the kitchen, keep anything that can catch fire – oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels or curtains – away from the stovetop.

7. To smother a small stovetop grease fire, slide a lid over the pan and turn off the burner.

Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled.

8. To extinguish an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the oven door closed.

9. Have a child-free zone of at least 3 feet around the stove and areas where hot food or drinks are being prepared or carried.

10. Never use your oven to heat your home.

11. Avoid electrical fires by having all electrical work done by a qualified electrician.

12. Only use one heat-producing appliance – such as a coffee maker, toaster or space heater – plugged in at one time.

13. Do not use extension cords or strips for major appliances like dryers, washers, stoves or refrigerators.

14. Check electrical cords and avoid running them across doorways or under carpets.

15. Check all wiring periodically for damage.

16. Extension cords are safe for temporary, not permanent, use.

17. Have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and

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inspected every year by a qualified professional.

18. Turn off portable heaters when leaving the room or going to bed.

19. When using candles, be sure to blow them out when you leave the room or go to bed.

More than 30 percent of home candle fires start in the bedroom.

20. Keep candles at least 1 foot from anything that can burn.

Three out of every five candle fires start when things that can burn are too close to the candle.

21. Use candle holders that are sturdy and won’t tip easily, and place them on a sturdy, uncluttered surface.

22. Never use a candle if medical oxygen is used in the home.

23. Rely on flashlights and battery-powered lighting during a power outage – not candles.

24. Keep matches and lighters out of the reach of children.

25. Keep children away from, and supervised around, lit candles, cigarettes, bonfires and stoves.

26. A home fire sprinkler can save lives and property and even reduce the homeowner’s insurance premium.

27. If using a portable heater, make sure it is certified by a qualified testing laboratory and has a thermostat, auto shut-off and overheat protection.

28. Keep a portable heater at least three feet from anything that can burn, placed on a solid flat surface and out of the way of foot traffic.

29. Prevent clothes dryer fires by cleaning the lint filter before or after each load of laundry and by properly maintaining the air exhaust vent pipe. The leading cause of home clothes dryer fires is failure to clean them.

30. Turn a clothes dryer off when leaving the home or going to bed.

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16

PROGRESS 2020

GRAVEL HILL VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

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s is the case with so many – if not all – volunteer fire departments, Gravel Hill VFD began because citizens recognized a need in their community.

“There had been several fires in the community, and we had to rely on Phil Campbell Fire, and a lot of times they were on another call or were unavailable,” explained Wanda Gober, who was one of the founding members of the department and is still involved. Her late husband, Eddie Lawler, was the first chief at the Gravel Hill. “People in our community had close friends whose houses had caught fire … and there was no fire department except Phil Campbell.

So in 1984 about 35 people banded together to establish the department.

“We started out meeting in a church,” recalled Gober, who is now secretary/treasurer for the department, “and we went around and got fire dues from people to join, and that’s how we got our first truck” – a 1960 model. “We had to put it in a barn because we didn’t have a building, and then some people donated an acre of land.

To build the station we had to have fundraisers, one after another. We did stews, we did fish fries, we raffled off quilts and guns – whatever it took.”

The new department took all those donations and paired them with a loan to buy needed supplies to build the fire station that houses Gravel Hill to this day. Another big donation was the manpower, with countless people volunteering their time and skill to build the fire station.

Other local departments were having training classes, and early Gravel Hill firefighters attended that training as they got the Gravel Hill VFD on its feet.

Gober trained at Hodges. “We didn’t know how to get started, and they helped us. It’s like one big family,” Gober said. “You help one another.”

Current Chief Frank Mitchell moved back into the area after living away for a few years, and Gravel Hill firefighters recruited his involvement. That was 25 years ago. “It’s a service to the community,” said Mitchell, who was once a teacher and coach

FRANK MITCHELL Fire Chief

at Phil Campbell. He has served as chief for the past seven or eight years. “I work at the polls, so I know everybody in the community.”

Gravel Hill’s calls are often for medical or vehicular incidents, with the department aiding the Phil Campbell Rescue Squad.

Over the years, Mitchell said one change at Gravel Hill has been a “vast improvement in equipment” – thanks, at least in part, to greater funding. The fire fee has been a boon for Gravel Hill, and the department recently purchased a skid unit for its Humvee partially funded by a $5,000 forestry grant. “For

a volunteer fire department, I think we have pretty good equipment,” Mitchell said.

Although there is always room for new and better trucks and supplies, Gravel Hill’s greater need is for more firefighters. About 13 are involved in the Gravel Hill department now.

For Gober, her own house fire story was what motivated her to be involved in the fire department. “Lightning had run in on our switch box and caught the basement on fire,” Gober said. Despite the 35 years that have passed since Gravel Hill’s formation, she’s still committed to the mission. “It gets in your blood.”

WANDA GOBER Secretary/Treasurer

PROGRESS 2020

17

FUNDING FOR FIRE DEPARTMENTS Community fundraisers of all sorts are the mainstay of a volunteer fire department’s income stream. Here are a few events on the calendar for Franklin County’s departments in 2020.

East Franklin VFD Barbecue Candidate Supper Feb. 21, 4-7 p.m.

William Bishop’s smoked pork and chicken $10 a plate Proceeds from the dinner will go toward the repair of the pump on Fire Engine 3 Frog Pond VFD Pancake Breakfast Feb. 29, 7-10 a.m. $7 / $4 for 6 and younger

Hodges VFD Spirit of Hodges Festival Oct. 10 Festival entry is free, but food sales and other proceeds benefit the department.

Vina VFD and Rescue Squad July Fest July 25 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Festival entry is free, but sales of Draw Down tickets and other proceeds benefit the department.

Burnout VFD Raffle on a Brugger 9mm Drawing will be March 9 $5 a chance

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18

PROGRESS 2020

HODGES VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

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ince 2000 Lesley Cantrell has been the fire chief at Hodges, following the 30-plus-year service of his brother-in-law, Norman Emerson.

The department was first established, Cantrell said, in 1974 and was certified in 1977.

Early members served the area with a tanker and a Deuce and a Half that served as a grass truck.

“They tried to put all the fires out,” Cantrell said. “When they got fully established they bought an old ’53 Chevrolet front-mount pumper.”

Cantrell joined the department in 1981, after Emerson invited him to come along on a fire call. Fighting fire came naturally to Cantrell, having grown up on a farm where fire sometimes broke out and in a community where neighbors depended on one another if their homes or properties caught fire.

From about 1979-1980, until Cantrell and a few other new faces came on board, Hodges VFD had hit a rough patch, declining as the first wave of enthusiasm wore off and some of the original firefighters left the department. “Things got a little bit out of hand, and that’s when Norman stepped in and said, ‘We’re going to straighten this mess out,’” Cantrell recalled.

“And we did. In three years we paid everything off, and we started having fundraisers again – we’d have singing groups come up, and we’d raise money, and we’d send out and get what fire dues we could. We built things up … At one times we had about 25 men and 10 women in the department, and it was doing really good.”

For Cantrell, being a volunteer firefighter comes down to this: somebody has to do it.

“I just feel like it’s my duty,” Cantrell said. “Somebody has to protect the public and help the community … Being brought up and being a Christian, that’s the way I was brought up – to help and do what you can. If nobody does it, what would you do?

You’d have to call on Red Bay or somebody that has a full-time department to come out, and that would be a long way.”

Hodges volunteers like Ken Price, Curtis Swinney, Charlie Stil and assistant chief Ron Coats

“

LESLEY CANTRELL Fire Chief

– who is also the treasurer of the Franklin County Fire and Rescue Association – are retired from their careers and thus constitute the portion of the force with the most time to dedicate.

Cantrell said in the early years, the department frequently covered areas where there was no VFD established – like the area Gravel Hill VFD now serves in Franklin County and into the Marion County areas now served by the Shiloh and Shottsville VFDs. Today the Hodges department responds to about 40-75 calls a year, many of them medical, and is armed with two pumpers, a tanker, a rescue service truck and two grass trucks. “We’ve pretty much got exactly what we need,” Cantrell said – although a bigger tanker, newer pumper and newer rescue truck would top the Hodges VFD wish list.

When it comes to calls that stand out in Cantrell’s mind, he will always remember when he and Emerson drove the Deuce and a Half down to Sulligent, where half the town was on fire. They shuttled water to the pumpers on scene. “It burned two buildings up, but if it hadn’t been for everybody responding, it could have burned nearly one whole side of the town.”

A plane crash in 1983 or 1984, going out toward Horseshoe Bend, also stands out in Cantrell’s memory. “It was a woman, a man and a little child. They put the child in the back with the clothes and the luggage, and when it nose-dived, it killed both of them – they were just like jelly; it broke nearly all their bones – but the kid survived,” Cantrell said. “Me and Norman, we located the plane and called everybody in there, and we brought the parents and the child out. That has always stuck in my mind.”

Hodges is down to the faithful few as the VFD faces a shortage of volunteers – about 10 make up the force. A couple of men in their 30s, Justin Woodard and the chief’s son Jared Cantrell, bring a little youth to the department, but most of the volunteers are older and have been with the department for awhile. “You can’t get these younger guys to stay with us,” Cantrell said.

“They’ll join, and we’ll get them started training, and then they’ll just quit.

“What’s going to happen in 10 years when us older guys get in our older 60s or 70s?” Cantrell added. “Who’s going to take over the fire departments and run them?”

PROGRESS 2020

19

Cooperation proves key to protecting Franklin County

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hen we had that big house fire on Highway 43, Phil Campbell was there, Hackleburg – even though they are in another county – Blue Springs, Frog Pond, and I think maybe a couple of others.” What Gravel Hill Fire Chief Frank Mitchell describes is mutual aid, an agreement present among all the fire departments in Franklin County to come to one another’s assistance when needed. That cooperation is a foundational principle for Franklin County VFDs. “We depend on other departments. If we see we’re going to have a big situation, right off the bat we ask for mutual aid from our surrounding departments, and we rely on Russellville quite a bit,” noted Robin Grissom, fire chief at Belgreen. “Mutual aid is going to give you a lot more manpower, and in a lot of situations, you need quite a bit of manpower because there

are so many aspects of a fire scene.”

For daytime response in particular, VFDs faces the challenge of many of their firefighters having day jobs that prevent them from going to a scene. When departments band together, they are able to supply a firefighting or rescue force that can handle the emergencies they face.

“We help each other out as much as we can,” said Carl Pierce, who served as the first chief at Frog Pond from 20042018, “because in a volunteer situation, a lot of volunteers are working, and they might not be available when you need them. So you call for backup from other departments so you’ll have enough people to do what you need to do.”

Phil Campbell Fire Chief Mike Rice added that even when enough personnel have responded to fire, crews needed to be rotated in and out to give firefighters a break. “When you

get that gear on, it’s extremely hot, and you have a hot fire,” Rice pointed out. “You’re pulling heavy hoses, carrying ladders and axes and whatever equipment, wearing heavy air packs – it doesn’t take but a few minutes, and you have to have a break and water. You get dehydrated fast.”

“Our No. 1 priority is to get to go home safe, and we want everybody there to be safe and not over-extend themselves,” added PC assistant chief Eric Rice. “The best thing to do is call for help.”

“You could always use more help,” agreed Red Bay Fire Chief Bud Strickland.

“We’re real fortunate. When Vina calls, we go. When we call, Vina comes. We work good together – us and Vina, Burnout/Halltown, Pleasant Site. We all work together.”

Although VFDs in the same area of the county are the first to join a fellow department on the front lines, VFDs across the

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county stand at the ready to aid one another. That commitment to cooperation can perhaps best be seen in the existence of the Franklin County Fire and Rescue Association, which is made up of every fire department, ambulance service and rescue squad in the county. Frog Pond Fire Board president George Hutto, who also serves as Fire and Rescue Association secretary, praised the association for its efforts to unite Franklin County departments in support and training. John James, president of the association, said dispatch will often go ahead and call out two departments – the next nearest, in addition to the one actually tasked with covering the area in which the fire is located – to ensure adequate response.

“We’ve got the best fire association around,” said Blue Springs Fire Chief Mary Hallman-Glass. “I don’t know of any fire department that is not awesome here … I could call right now, and I could have 14 fire departments sitting in my lot within an hour. Everybody is always willing to help a neighboring department.

East Franklin, Phil Campbell, Tharptown, Russellville – everybody is awesome.”

“We watch out for one another,” Hutto agreed.

“It would not work without cooperation,” Rice said.

“There’s not one department that can stand alone. It’s an understood thing that you’re going to help each other.”

That’s true even for the county’s only paid department in Russellville.

“Every mayor and council I have ever worked with have always said, ‘If somebody needs you, go,’” said Russellville Chief Joe Mansell. Other departments have come to Russellville’s aid, as well. “It feels good when you see them pulling in.

“My whole career has been about trying to help,” Mansell added. If someone calls and needs help, whether it’s a citizen or another fire department, we’re going … Everybody in this county is always willing to work as a team.”

“We’re the biggest department in the county,” added Russellville Fire Capt.

Randy Seal, “but even being the biggest department in the county, we’re still only 20 men – and only six on shift at a time, fully staffed … You see these volunteers pull up to a fire scene, more manpower coming in, it’s a relief.”

One driving force behind that cooperative spirit is the feeling of family that ties all the VFDs together.

“We’re all family. It’s the biggest family you can have,” Hallman-Glass said. Pierce agreed. “Your first concern is taking care of yourself and your fellow firefighter.”

Cooperation can also be seen in the way existing departments have helped each new department get on its feet. Frog Pond, for example, benefited from the knowledge, experience and expertise of established departments across Franklin County when it formed in 2004. “It meant a lot,” said Pierce. “I might have a question, and I could call up and ask any of them … In training, a lot of them would come here to the fire department and go through training sessions with us.”

Some departments also helped the fledgling group get on its feet by donating extra turnout gear and other equipment.

The story is the same at Gravel Hill. Wanda Gober with the Gravel Hill VFD said departments like Blue Springs and East Franklin that predated the Gravel Hill department were a valuable resources for learning how to set up and run a VFD – providing expertise Gravel Hill can still depend on to this day. “We still ask for advice, and they still help us. We help one another.”

Cooperation was key in the devastating aftermath of the April 27, 2011, tornado.

Rice said he never could have prepared for the tragedy that storm would cause and the destruction his department would face in the days and weeks that followed.

“Help started pouring in, and that’s what helped pull us through,” Rice said.

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PROGRESS 2020

PHIL CAMPBELL VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

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n Phil Campbell the fire department has been around about as long as the town. Although some might have the misconception that Phil Campbell VFD, with its association with the town and accountability to the town council, is a paid department, that’s not the case – it is full volunteer.

According to Fire Chief Mike Rice, the Phil Campbell department averages about two calls per week. “About half of those are late at night or in the wee hours of the morning,” explained Rice, who has been serving as chief for the past 15 years – followed after his brother Eric, who served as chief about four years and is now assistant chief. “Daytime calls might turn into a several hour thing … We’re on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year. We’ve been called out from Christmas dinners, thanksgiving – just a as soon as you start doing something, you’re going to get called. In a paid department, they are on duty and off duty.

We’re never off duty.”

The department has about 17 volunteers on the force, and Rice said they are always looking for more. “We try to be as easy on our volunteers as we can be. We try to work around their schedules; we only expect them to come when they can.”

For the Rice brothers, who have both been with the Phil Campbell department about 20 years, serving is “just as simple as wanting to help somebody.”

“It gets in your blood to help somebody, and there’s no stopping point,” said Eric.

“We get called for lots of things – to help with the school, traffic control, just different things we get called out for that have nothing to do with fighting fire,” Mike added. Recently department members helped an elderly woman who was worried about the ground washing away around her relative’s grave, and it wasn’t long ago that the department was called upon to help save a dog that was choking. “That’s all part of community service,” Mike said.

“When people are in need, you help them.”

MIKE RICE Fire Chief As chief, Mike is the point person for managing all VFD trucks and equipment, as well as liaising between the department and the town council, which holds voting power over who joins the department. “You have to manage your personnel and keep personnel morale up,” Mike said. Keeping everything up to code is another job responsibility, one which affects the department’s ISO rating and, consequently, homeowners’ insurance rates.

“Our rules and regulations are the same as New York City’s or anybody else’s – big departments, little departments, everybody,” Eric pointed out. “We have to meet the same criteria, on a smaller scale, as they do.” “We don’t get a break for being volunteer,” Mike agreed. “We’re required to have certain pieces of equipment, maintained in a certain way. There’s a ton of things to do. We don’t – and probably nobody in the county does – have enough personnel to take care of all of it.”

Since the Rices have been with the department, they have seen

ERIC RICE Assistant Fire Chief A now-vintage truck used to serve Phil Campbell.

plenty of shiny new additions and improvements. Grant funding provided the department with 23 sets of new turnout gear, followed by new air packs and bottles. New hoses, new nozzles, a new fire truck and another truck, donated after the tornado in 2011, have all come to Phil Campbell during the Rices’ tenure. The post-tornado truck is one of which they are especially proud.

“We found out Gadsden was wanting to donate a truck to somebody who was affected by the tornado, and I wrote them a letter, and they responded right away,” Mike said. “They had the truck

cleaned and detailed. They had the graphics with our name and all put on it. They sent three officers up here with it and brought it to us … I mean, that was a fantastic thing, and it really paid off for us.

We have used it, and it’s still a key part of our arsenal.”

The tornado aftermath, of course, presented a major time of need for Phil Campbell VFD volunteers.

“It was overwhelming,” Mike said.

“There were so many victims and so much destruction. I don’t think I even slept for three days.”

Aside from the emotional turmoil of seeing the town torn apart, and

the massive workload ahead to put it back together, volunteers faced a logistics nightmare: Communications were down, making it difficult to coordinate plans for rescue and recovery.

“Phones, radios – nothing worked,” Mike said. “I never dreamed (of being a volunteer firefighter during a situation like that). I never knew a tornado could be as strong as that one and cause the destruction that one did.

It was a hard thing, trying to deal with all the victims. All the people who were killed, all the people who were injured … The death toll was somewhat higher (than originally reported) because of the people who died a few days or a week later in the hospital.

“I never thought we would have to set up a temporary morgue here in town to handle the victims.

Never dreamed that. There are so things you can prepare for, but some things – you can prepare, but it will be a lot more than you prepared for. There’s just no way to be ready for something like that.”

Yet, that’s why the Phil Campbell VFD exists and will continue – to serve the community. “When 911 calls us out,” Eric said, “we go.”

PROGRESS 2020

21

Recruitment takes spotlight for VFDs

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hen one thinks of the biggest challenges facing firefighters, the 1,000-degree flames of a burning house fire might seem paramount. The real problem local VFDs face, however, isn’t fire – it’s having the personnel needed to meet a blaze or other emergency head on.

“The biggest issue right now, which is my focus for the year, is recruitment of volunteers – recruiting and retaining volunteers,” explained Franklin County Fire and Rescue Association president John James. “For each one of these departments, daytime response is minimal at best simply because they have jobs, and it appears volunteerism is not as high on everyone’s priority list as it was in the ’90s or late ’80s.”

James said he and local fire chiefs will be targeting the recruitment challenge from a number of angles in 2020. From seeking additional grant funding – to afford the training and equipment new volunteers would need – to increasing visibility and spreading the word about the need for volunteers, FC fire personnel will be putting the spotlight on the need for more men and women to serve their communities in this capacity. g Volunteer firefighters, unless they are retired, have a day job that pays the bills, and they come from all careers. In their full-time jobs, Franklin County firefighters are water department employees, chicken farmers, mechanics, preachers, truck drivers, nurses, teachers, engineers and more.

Some members, of course, are homemakers, retired and semiretired. “We just need you to be here and train enough to know how to go and put out a fire,” said Frog Pond Fire Board president George Hutto.

For most volunteer firefighters, the motivation to serve comes from an instinctive desire to step up and help their community. Some people coach youth sports; some host bake sales or toy drives; some visit the elderly; and some haul a hose and try to save lives.

“If we recruit somebody in our community, they already know most all of us anyway, and it’s just helping your neighbors.

It’s a community outreach,” said Gravel Hill VFD’s Wanda Gober.

To get – and keep – people in the fire service requires generating continued interest and support in the service each VFD provides – no small feat, given that there is nothing “in it” for the volunteers, in terms of compensation. “We’re limited on what we can with our funds – we can’t just take it and pay them or buy things for them,” said Vina Fire Chief Michael Moomaw. “The people we have are here because they love their community, and they love what they do.”

“The majority of the county is protected by volunteer fire departments,” James emphasized, “and even though the people who are part of the fire departments support them well, our age in our county is increasing, and the number of volunteers is decreasing. So that’s the biggest obstacle.

“So we’re looking at ways to overcome that.”

In an ideal world, James said every VFD in Franklin County needs about 30 volunteer firefighters just to ensure seven or eight of them are able to respond to the scene for a daytime call. Unfortunately for Franklin’s VFDs, getting people to step up has become a challenge.

“It’s hard to get young people interested in doing volunteer work,” noted Belgreen Fire Chief Robin Grissom. “I wish I knew the secret to getting them involved.”

It’s a problem every chief is wrestling.

“The younger generation – those in their mid- to late-30s – don’t want to volunteer. Not only in the fire department – nowhere,” said East Franklin Volunteer Fire Chief Rodney Alexander. “They have their own agenda. The only thing that scares me about the future of the volunteer fire department … is are you going to have people to come up here, open those doors and take the trucks to fight fires?”

Phil Campbell Fire Chief Mike Rice said the time commitment involved has proven to be an issue for attracting and retaining volunteers.

“It’s hard to get volunteers in this day and time,” he said.

“There are so many activities going on that take people’s time – people’s work weeks have gotten longer. Another thing is there are so many sports kids are involved in, and if they’re a parents they have ballgames or band or something. It takes so much of their time … They don’t have a lot of time for volunteering.”

“A lot of people just don’t want to volunteer their time,” agreed Red Bay Chief Bud Strickland. “The world has sped up so fast – it’s not like it used to be years ago. The world has gotten faster, the economy has gotten higher than what it was back then, and people have to work to make a living.

They just don’t have time to volunteer to do it.”

It’s a problem that’s not unique to Franklin County.

“It’s the same everywhere,” James said. “Departments are struggling with the same issues all over the country … We’re just looking for people who are willing to give something of their time and effort.”

As James noted, VFDs across Franklin County boast firefighters that are passionate and committed to the service – but many of them are growing older, and VFDs are counting on a new generation to step up and take the wheel.

“I would love to have some mid- to late-30s or early-40s people come up here and be interested in it,” Alexander said.

Frog Pond’s Carl Pierce agreed.

“We need younger people, but the young people who have families, young children – they are involved in other things, and

it’s hard to motivate people to help.”

“As we fade away into the sunset,” added Grissom, “you’ve got to have new blood to be successful.”

Hodges VFD has felt the pinch as well, with newer firefighters quitting when they realize just how much training is required. “They want to go and fight a fire, and I have to tell them, ‘No, you can’t go in and fight a fire until you get your training,’” said Hodges Fire Chief Lesley Cantrell. “I say, ‘I’m liable for you. If you get hurt or killed, your parents can sue me because you weren’t trained.’ They want to run in there and do whatever, and I won’t let them, and they’ll get aggravated and quit.”

“The departments are more than willing to provide all the necessary equipment and training,” added James, “we just need people who are willing to do it.”

A larger force also helps improve a department’s ISO rating – which means someone’s involvement in the department could pay off quite literally with money back in their pocket thanks to a lower insurance premium.

“There’s nobody in the county who is not covered by a fire department, but if we don’t get help – if these fire departments do not get help – we’re declining,” said Blue Springs Chief and EMA Director Mary Hallman-Glass.

Most every department needs more volunteers to hit that 30-person benchmark, and even those that are close to 30-strong could use more help. “You can never get enough people to run a volunteer department,” said Frankfort Chief Brian Bragwell.

Moomaw agreed and voiced his optimism that volunteers will step up when the need is there.

“We have struggled trying to get people to come, but it always seems like God just blesses us with people coming up and saying, ‘I want to be part of your department. I want to do something for my community,’ and we’ll put them to work.

“There’s always a place and a need for anybody who is interested in being part of a fire department.”

22

PROGRESS 2020

PLEASANT SITE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

A

bout 10 miles north of Red Bay is the community of Pleasant Site. Anchoring the community is the Pleasant Site Volunteer Fire Department.

Fire Chief Tony Armstrong was there at the department’s inception in 1990. “We’d had a few fires, and then the county started talking about putting a few fire departments around,” said Armstrong, who took on the chief’s role in 2014. “We had enough interest then to start one.

“Red Bay was our closest place at that time, and that was a long way out,” Armstrong noted.

Because of the speed at which fire spreads and grows, every minute counts – and so through the efforts of eight to 10 founding members, the Pleasant Site VFD came to be.

Armstrong said although the department grew in the early years, jumping quickly to a force of 20, over time involvement in the small rural department has decreased. “We’re not a big, populated area, so we don’t have the youth like a lot of places do, so it makes it really hard on us,” Armstrong said. “We’re probably the least-paged-out department … but when we’re needed, we’re needed, and we respond.”

Pleasant Site is most often called up on to assist at Red Bay, Burnout, Belgreen and Vina scenes – even across the state line to Belmont. “Sometimes each department doesn’t have enough manpower,” Armstrong noted.

“With the way people work, people can be real shorthanded.”

Armstrong said Pleasant Site

L

When they need us, they can call us. Don’t hesitate. We’re there to help the community. will always be there to lend a hand to help the community – a motivation that also drives him personally and led to his own involvement in the department.

“I’m always one to help my community, and that was something I wanted to do,” he said.

“I have always helped everyone around here … I just want to make sure I can keep it going and keep the community safe.”

These days Pleasant Site has a force of about 12. The department’s first fire chief, Fay Thorn, was at the helm until 2011, retiring shortly before his death in 2013 at age 90; another man served as chief about four years before Armstrong took over, and Armstrong said he plans to stay at the position for years to come. His willingness to serve is what landed him is the role when there was little interest from other candidates. add hard return didn’t mind doing it,” Armstrong said. “I just wanted to make things better – keep the department going and improve on it. I didn’t want, after all the years it had been here, to have to give it up.”

Like most small VFDs, Pleasant Site has its challenges.

Since all the firefighters are volunteers, most of them have day jobs to make a living – which means less time available for meetings, training and responding to calls. It’s a challenge Armstrong feels himself, working in both farming and maintenance.

Balancing it all, he said, can be exhausting. “With it being volunteer, I just do what I’ve

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got to do, and then have to put food on the table,” Armstrong said.

Pleasant Site responds to about 15 calls a year. Wood fires can be an issue when the weather is dry. “We don’t have many structure fires, but every once in a while we have several wrecks we have to tend to,” Armstrong said.

The department’s fleet includes

two pumper trucks and a brush truck outfitted for rescue.

Despite the challenges Pleasant Site might face, from lack of funding to shortage of volunteers, Armstrong said the community should know the VFD will always be here to assist friends and neighbors in their time of need.

“When they need us, they can call us. Don’t hesitate. We’re there to help the community.”

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PROGRESS 2020

23

Community support gives VFDs confidence to continue to serve

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ocal fire departments have plenty of needs. From more volunteers, to newer equipment, to more trucks, the firefighting and rescue wishlist can sometimes feel endless. But what each department perhaps needs most of all is the backing of the community it has committed to serve.

Whether it’s buying a quart of chicken stew, relying on the department in a time of need or stopping to say thank you to a job well done, local fire chiefs and their forces count on the community – just as the community counts on them.

With the close communities that make up Franklin County, many of the local fire departments can clearly see and feel that needed support.

“We’re blessed,” said Rodney Alexander, chief of the East Franklin Volunteer Fire Department. “This community backs the fire department.

Everybody is tight knit and tries to help one another out whenever they can.”

“When you ask people in the community,” Alexander added, “they are ready to step up and help … I can’t stress enough how this community helps their fire department out to keep it going.

I enjoy trying to help make this fire department the best one in the county.” f Many of the VFDs across Franklin County felt that most strongly when they originally formed, as community members stepped up with donations of their time as well as their money to help get a new department running. From East Franklin to Burnout, from Hodges to Frankfort, each local department has depended on the community to establish its presence.

In turn, many of the departments have made it a practice to help their communities not “just” by fighting fires and responding to other emergencies but by truly being part of the community.

Fire engines are a popular sight in Franklin County Christmas and homecoming parades, and firefighters are also a common presence at local festivals and gatherings. Another way many departments interact with the community is by teaching fire safety principles to youth, as

they make it a priority to visit with elementary school children in their district to make sure they are familiar with smoke detectors, escape plans, the dangers posed by fire and more.

“The greatest pleasure I get being in this fire department is when we do Fire Prevention Week, and we have kids from the school come up to the station. they tour the station, and we get to show them the trucks,” said Vina Fire Chief Michael Moomaw. “We’ll carry them back over to the school on the fire truck with lights and sirens. They get a kick out of that, and I get joy out of watching them do it.

“I want them to see us like we are, and then I want them to see us fully suited,” Moomaw added.

“We don’t look the same, and it’s kind of scary to see somebody in a fire suit, especially as a young child. We want them to see us so that when we come to a fire – God forbid that it happens, but if it does – and we holler for them, we want them to come to us. We don’t want them to be afraid of us.”

Russellville Fire Department and the Franklin County Fire and Rescue Association co-own a fire safety trailer, funded by a grant then-Sen. Roger Bedford helped acquire in 1997. Russellville uses the trailer not only to teach students at West Elementary but also children across the county, at their own elementary schools as well as at events like the Spirit of Hodges Festival. “We teach every single one of these children to make sure they are safe,” said fire marshal Justin Green – an effort that became an even greater priority for him when he became a father himself.

One way departments have felt community support is when the people of Franklin County “put their money where they mouth is” by voting for the fire service fee in 2016.

“That was the best feeling – to know the community supported us,” said Blue Springs Fire Chief Mary Hallman-Glass. “You don’t know how much they support you until they need you.”

“I think people understand we’re here to help,” added Hodges Chief Lesley Cantrell, “and we’re not just taking their money.”

George Hutto, fire board president at Frog Pond, said Frog Pond community members

also show their support by remitting their voluntary annual $30 dues. Since Frog Pond did not opt into the fire fee, the department counts on these dues along with fundraisers to acquire the necessary funding.

“Many of our citizens are just very supportive and might even send more than $30.” The same is true in Belgreen, where the VFD did not opt into the fire fee but instead continues to rely on its biannual Boston butt sale, which is a sell-out fundraiser each year for the department. “We have great community support here in Belgreen,” said Fire Chief Robin Grissom.

“A lot of people in Red Bay support the fire department, and they have been good to us,” said Red Bay Fire Chief Bud Strickland. “You need the support from the mayor, council and all the citizens.

“You’re their protection,” Strickland added.

“That’s what they pay city taxes for – for fire protection. It’s our duty to protect their houses,

businesses – everything. I think it’s important that they feel comfortable with the fire department.”

Moomaw agreed. “I want to say thank you, as the chief, to the people who have supported this department.”

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24

PROGRESS 2020

RED BAY VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

T

he present Red Bay fire station was built in 1989, but the city boasted a fire service long before that. The old city hall had one bay attached to house the fire truck. Red Bay VFD has come a long way since then.

Fire Chief Bud Strickland has been at Red Bay VFD since 1985, coming on board because he was acquainted with the fire chief at the time, Mutt Harrison.

“I just got interested in it and decided it might be something I wanted to do – helping other people,” Strickland said. “I just went from there. It’s something I kind of always wanted to do, and he had talked to me and tried to get me to join. I told him, ‘I’ll give it a try, but I don’t know how long I’ll stay.’ Well, it’s been 35 years.”

In the 1980s, “we didn’t have any turnout gear – no full sets – and we fought fire with regular clothes on,” Strickland said.

“Later on we went to the council about getting some gear, so they got us some gear, and we kept it for a long time. We had some old trucks we had to work on to keep them working, and it just went from there to what it is today.”

Strickland first served as assistant chief and rose to chief in the early 90s, when Billy Bolton was mayor, after Harrison decided he was ready to retire from the position after 36 or 37 years in the role.

“I went to the mayor and told him, ‘All our old equipment is rundown.’ I hit him up and told him we’d like to get a new truck,” Strickland said. “We bought the new black truck, and we went from that black truck until we talked them into buying another one. Our equipment just kept getting a little better, a little better and a little better.”

Strickland doesn’t take credit for the improvements that have taken place in Red Bay over the past 35 years, instead praising the hard work of all his firefighters. “We’ve all chipped in and done the work, and that’s how it’s become what it is today,” Strickland said.

He also commended the long tenure many of them have with the department. “We don’t have

a lot of young people or new faces. It’s not like it was years ago; it’s hard to find volunteers now. A lot of my firemen have been here 15 or 20 years … I’ve got a good department. I’ve got a bunch of good men who work here.”

Red Bay is an all-volunteer fire department, although members do benefit from receiving mileage reimbursement for responding to a scene, and the city has purchased trucks and equipment and provides a city budget for the department’s needs. “The city has been good to us. They buy us what we need,” Strickland said. “We’ve got a good city council and a good mayor.”

Fourteen people volunteer with Red Bay VFD, plus three city employees who respond to

daytime calls, helping fill the gap when other volunteers might be tied to their day jobs.

“A lot of people don’t understand how many hours we put in,” said Strickland, who works a day job himself in the laminating department at Tiffin Motorhomes.

“There are times, when we have problems with anything, that I’m on the phone at night calling and doing stuff. All of us do – it’s not just me.”

Red Bay responds to 50-75 calls in a year, and Strickland said his department frequently cooperates with other VFDs in

“I’d like to have two stations in town. I’d like to have one down on Golden Road, out toward the hospital.

A lot of people live down that way.”

that part of the county, like Vina, Pleasant Site and Burnout/Halltown.

Red Bay’s fleet includes three pumper trucks, a service truck and a brush truck. When it comes to hopes for the future, what Strickland would most like to see is a second fire station.

PROGRESS 2020

25

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26

A

PROGRESS 2020

RUSSELLVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT

lthough Russellville Fire Department now has the distinction of being the only paid, full-department in Franklin County, it did not start out that way. Russellville was first home to a volunteer fire service, formed in August 1924, with R.K. Elliott serving as the first chief. The very first call, according to current chief Joe Mansell, was to an outhouse fire. “(Mayor) Ralph Bishop, in the early ’70s, decided he wanted a paid department, so he made the move to make it a full-time department,” Mansell said. At that time the department’s coverage area was nearly the entire county, save Phil Campbell. “Structure fires, extrication, everything you can think,” said fire marshal Justin Green. “Two guys per shift ran it.”

The first full-time fire chief was Billy Wilson from 19731976. Harlan Hutcheson was the second fire chief of the paid department, from the 1976 until 2002, when Mansell rose to the challenge.

The department continued with two men per shift until the late ’80s or early ’90s, when it became three on each shift. “I hired in part time in ’92,” said Mansell. “When I hired in it was three guys, but there was always somebody on vacation, so I never worked a shift when it wasn’t just two of us.”

Mansell was promoted to lieutenant in ’97 before rising to chief in 2002. “At the time I got fire chief, I was the youngest fire chief in the state of Alabama, for a paid department. I was 29 years old.” It was a point of personal

pride – but nervousness – for the young chief. “I considered Harlan a great fire chief throughout my career,” Mansell said, “and I thought he did a great job in his leadership. Harlan had the ship steering in the right direction; I just had to pick up and go and keep it in the same direction he had it.”

Since Mansell has been chief, the station has achieved one of its biggest accomplishments: building a second fire station on Highway 43 North. That was in 1998, and in 2008 the RFD saw its Fire Station I move from downtown to its current location. “We had outgrown the station downtown. It was an old, old station,” Mansell said. Because of the large square footage of buildings in the industrial facilities in Russellville, the department needed to add a ladder truck and need to be in closer proximity to the industrial park – and thus new Station 1 came to be. A third station, located near the high school, is a someday goal.

It was in 1992 that the department became the first Advanced Life Support fire department of its size in the state of Alabama. Being able to provide the range of medical services for the community is a crucial operation of the Russellville department. It came to be during a time the city had lost one of its ambulance services. “That’s one of the main reasons we decided to go to ALS – so the city would never be without a service in place,” said Fire Capt. Randy Seal. The RFD can provide any service or care that ambulance

personnel can provide except for actual transport from a scene to a hospital.

Today the department has grown to the point where it now boasts six men divided between the two stations per shift, with a minimum staffing of five.

RFD has one ladder truck, four pumpers, three brush units and three dive boats, along with an abundance of special trailers for services – like HAZMAT and the dive team – and unique equipment like the LUCAS device

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PROGRESS 2020

for chest compressions. Although the RFD has made great strides in terms of equipment, trucks and facilities, it’s the caliber of people working at the RFD that really gives Mansell pride.

“A chief is only as good as the guys under him, and we’ve always been blessed in Russellville to have a good group of guys,” Mansell said. From Boyce Porter and Bobby Malone to other fire professionals with whom Mansell has worked throughout the years, he said he has always had quality colleagues to count on. “These guys have the heart and the passion, and they want things to be better,” Mansell said. “This is their community. This is where they have grown up; their families are here and they want things better for them.”

In addition to Seal, who came to the RFD in 1998, RFD captains include Neil Willis, Andy Devaney and Aubrey Harris. Green, who joined the department in 1998 as well, became fire marshal in mid-2014.

“To do this job, you have to have the heart to do it,” said Fire Capt. Randy Seal.

27

“Nobody gets into the fire service for the money,” fire marshal Justin Green pointed out. Seal agreed. “We’re not doing it to be rich and famous – because that isn’t happening,” he said.

“We’re doing it because we care about the people around us in the community. Either you want to help people or you don’t.”

“You want to help make your community a safer and better place to live,” added Green.

Although the RFD benefits from being a paid department, it has still relied on other sources

of funding throughout the years.

Grant money, in particular, has funded numerous efforts and improvements at the RFD – nearly $3 million of it over the years.

Mansell said being able to serve with a paid department has been a blessing. One of the greatest benefits the department enjoys from having full-time firefighters is a greater ability to carry out necessary training. Scheduling is less problematic than for volunteer departments, which have to work around volunteers’ other schedule and commitments;

by contrast, RFD firefighters can train whenever they are on shift.

In his many years with the department, Mansell has seen a number of improvements shape the department into what it is today – including an improvement from an ISO of 4 to 2 during his tenure.

“People don’t always see and think about everything we do, but this job is a 24/7 job,” he said. “It’s never-ending, and that’s what we love about it.

When people can’t get an answer when they call somebody, they

call the fire department. We’ve been called to get snakes out of houses and squirrels out of houses, and we do it all. When other people are running away, the fire department is going on … Every day you come to work, you don’t know if you’re fighting a structure fire, doing an extrication, running medical calls – I wish the younger generation coming up realized how exciting of a job it is.”

“And an important job,” Seal added.

Mansell agreed.

“Every morning when these guys come in, they are putting their lives on the line,” he said. “I think the fire departments in Franklin County are some of the best.” Mansell also praised the mayor and city council – both those installed now and those he has worked with through the years. “I’ve had some of the best mayors and councils to work with. If there’s something we need, and we go to the mayor and council – if we can show where it’s going to help save somebody’s life or property, then they are always willing to do whatever we need.”

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Partnership Banquet, March 24 Easter Egg Hunts, April 4 Russellville, Eastside Park Phil Campbell, Memorial Park Red Bay, Bay Tree Park Junior Leadership Program Scholarships: Matt Hester Memorial, Jim Webb Memorial, Junior Leadership Ribbon Cuttings Watermelon Pageant, July 18 Trunks of Treats, October 31 Holly Day, December 5 Christmas Parades Vina, December 1 Russellville, December 3 Red Bay, December 7 Phil Campbell, December 10

Attractions Bear Creek Lakes, Red Bay Museum, Bay Tree Council for the Performing Arts, Dismals Canyon, Bird Trail #51 and Cypress Cove Farm, Historic Roxy Theatre, Red Bay Family Fun Park, Spruce Pine Museum

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PROGRESS 2020

THARPTOWN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

D

oug Coan has been the chief at Tharptown since 2016, rising to the role after Doug Hatton’s 10 years in the position. He has been with the department since it began in fall 1983 – the last original member still involved.

“The group that got together – most of them have passed now,” said Coan. “We got together down here at the Tharptown Baptist Church under one of the oak trees, just talking about a fire department.” It took the better part of the year from the time those first few members met under a tree at the church to the time they were fighting fires. “In the fall of 1983 we were fighting fire with one truck, but we didn’t have a building. We stored it in a neighbor’s barn.”

They counted on donations to get on their feet. Mothers and grandmothers helped the fledgling department host cake walks, sell Mr. and Mrs. Sea’s chicken stew, have a fish fry – “Mr. Wayne from Wayne’s Catfish Haven actually helped us get started frying fish, to get us on the right track,” Coan said. The new department even raffled off a new pick-up truck, a satellite dish and a shotgun, willing to do “anything you can think of to make that money.”

“It’s been a long hard grind,” Coan said. “A lot of people have put a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of effort into it.”

At the time the Tharptown VFD formed, the closest department was Russellville, which did not have the manpower and equipment it does today. “If you had a house fire, by the time Russellville got called here, it was basically over … So the community started forming a fire department so we could help each other and our neighboring fire departments.”

For Coan, stepping up as fire chief came down to filling a need for the department – and for the community.

“It’s not something I looked forward to or planned on, but I wanted to try to keep the department running and try to get this thing the best we can get it,” Coan said – and it has nothing to do with any notoriety that might accompany authority.

“On a fire scene or a wreck or

anything, if I show up last or next to last, I never ask anyone to step down command and let me take over. I operate just as a first responder or firefighter, whatever I need to do.”

Tharptown VFD has stayed on its own two feet for the past 30plus years, but like most VFDs, Coan said they are in great need of more volunteers.

“All our people work in the day, and so it’s just us who are retired or work night shift (who can respond to daytime calls),” he said. “It’s really hard on day shift. It’s the hardest shift for every department in this county.

It might not be but two or three people who show up to a daytime call, and it’s not because they’re not active; it’s just because they’re working or they have family ties and obligations.

“We have a very good group of people,” Coan added. “Somebody has to do it – and it’s not the glamor everybody thinks it is.”

He commended their dedication to the force. “I know there have been a lot of birthdays, a lot of church and a lot of activities missed due to fire calls.”

Coan, who is also vice president of the Franklin County Fire and Rescue Association, has served in emergency services since the age of 16, starting out with the Franklin County Rescue Squad. Helping people is what drives his own commitment, whether it’s a fire, medical call, car wreck, missing person, flood waters or any other emergency.

“It’s really amazing the things people will depend on their fire department for,” Coan said.

“That’s what we’re here for – to help any way we can.”

The department has been able to grow its fleet since those early days of having one truck – a 1950s era pumper from upstate New York. The department next added a military surplus 10-wheel drive truck and outfitted it with a 1,000-gallon metal tank on it. “Top speed was like 30 miles per hour,” Coan said. “That was our first tanker.

Several years down the road we were able to get a note and buy our second pumper.”

Time passed and the department acquired a brush and wood fire truck. Eventually the department replaced the

“

–

DOUG COAN Fire Chief first tanker and pumper, and Tharptown is now in the process of transforming an M1078 troop carrier, courtesy of the forestry service, into a rescue vehicle that could brave storms and floodwaters. The department also has a medical truck to respond to things like car wrecks and heart attacks and a Humvee outfitted as a grass truck. “We’d like to upgrade our pumpers, but money wise – they’re still in good shape, they just have a little bit of age on them,” Coan said.

“They still pass the test.”

Tharptown responds to about 100 calls a year – sometimes directly from citizens seeking assistance. “A lot of it’s just

–

community response, a citizen needing to know something or ask something,” Coan said. “It might be ‘I think I smell smoke; do you smell anything?’ It’s all kinds of calls. Every now and then the school calls us to water the grass – they’ve got new grass out, and can we come water the new sod.” Although that might not be a conventional fire department responsibility, Coan said it’s all about community engagement and mutual support.

“The community supports this fire department, and that school is part of our community,” he said, “and the school is paying for the water – we’ll just pump it.

I just call it community service.”

Coan said the department has definitely benefited from the fire service fee voted in three years in Franklin County.

Although it’s not as though a VFD can take off on a spending spree, the guaranteed funds give him the ability to buy needed equipment and plan for future improvements. “It’s opened a few smaller doors for us that we wanted to go through but couldn’t afford to … It’s given us a second breath where we can regroup and try to push forward,” Coan said. “We’ve got what it takes to do our job – but I’d love to have the luxury of nicer equipment. You want better for your people.”

PROGRESS 2020

29

Training drives firefighter readiness

“F

ire doesn’t know any difference between a paid, career firefighter and a volunteer. They have to be prepared to do the same things,” explained Franklin County Fire and Rescue Association president John James. Being prepared means embracing the rigorous training that comes with being a firefighter – and encouraging the time and motivation for that training is a challenge every department has faced.

At East Franklin, Chief Rodney Alexander said getting firefighters to monthly or semiregular trainings can be difficult, despite how crucial training is to effective firefighting. The issue is plain and simple: “If you don’t train, you aren’t going to know what to do.” Alexander said new, younger firefighters in particular are often chomping at the bit to fight a fire – but are less eager to first complete the training required. “Once a month we’re set up to do training here, and I do it if there’s two people, three people, four people, five people – at least I know those people have done it, and if I get out on a scene of a fire call, ambulance call or something like that, at least I know they have done it before.”

From CPR and rescue procedures to how to operate a pump, being a firefighter requires consistent training and refreshers.

“We’ve had a lot of training – all of us,” said Frog Pond’s Carl Pierce. “It takes a lot. You need to stay up on things. One of the big things is the turnout

gear you have to wear and the air packs: You have to put them on in a situation where you’re rushed, and you have to get it right. You can’t go in a burning house ill-equipped. I’ve known of firefighters getting hands nearly burned off because they didn’t have a glove on. You have to be prepared and get that right.

“If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of somebody else.”

One focus in Franklin County is cross-training, with different departments training together on each’s others trucks and equipment – the goal being to make sure that any departments working together at a scene are well-versed on how to operate each other’s resources. Because cooperation and mutual aid are so crucial among Franklin County VFDs, they don’t just work together at the scene; they also work together in training.

“We train together,” said Blue Springs Chief Mary Hallman-Glass.

“Russellville Fire Department – those guys are trainers for the Alabama Fire College, and they do a lot of our training.

“It’s very important to do that because if I go to a house fire, I’ve got to already know what Phil Campbell (for example) is going to do,” she added. “If not, somebody will get hurt. It’s very dangerous. We all get in there together, so we all train together.”

“You need to know their truck, and they need to know our truck,” agreed Red Bay Chief Bud Strickland. “You need to

know what you’re doing when you get out there.”

It’s the same story at every department, which is why each fire chief puts a heavy emphasis on training. “There have been times that we have responded (to aid another department), and we would have difficulty hooking up to their truck,” explained Chief Michael Moomaw, “or vice versa because we’re not familiar with each other … We need to know what everybody’s got, and we need to know, when we call that department, what’s coming. It’s important that we work together – why shouldn’t we, because we’re neighbors. We have one goal: to take care of the people of Franklin County.”

Phil Campbell Fire Chief Mike Rice said another aspect

of training is teaching newer volunteers to temper their emotions and excitement when they first get on a fire scene – to properly handle what his brother and assistant chief Eric Rice calls “an adrenaline dump.”

“It takes a little while to teach them to control themselves and not get overexcited,” Mike said.

“If you don’t keep a cool head, you’re going to become part of the problem instead of part of the solution. You can’t help anybody if you lose your own head. You’ve got to keep thinking clearly.”

“There’s a lot more to it than ‘putting the wet stuff on the hot stuff,’” Strickland added. “You need to be educated. you need to know what you’re doing.”

Training can including any number of scenarios, from

reading a manual, to practicing lifesaving measures on a dummy, to using the Alabama Fire College simulator to practice entering and exiting a burning building.

“What the City of Russellville is required to do by ISO – we are too,” noted Moomaw. “The difference between a volunteer fire department and paid fire department is that they are on shift, and they can train anytime they want to because they are there. In a volunteer department, you’re looking at a bunch of men and women who work a fulltime job and have families and responsibilities and don’t get paid to serve … It’s hard, when you work a job and you’ve been at work from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and then you have to go home and check on your family and make sure everything is taken care of at home, to then come spend two or three hours at a fire department and train. You don’t get back home until 9 p.m., and then you start your whole day over.”

With the resources in place, however, Moomaw has put his foot down when it comes to that training. “If you’re going to be in this department, you’re going to train,” he said. “We’re going to make sure our trucks and our equipment are up to par, that they meet the standards of the NFPA and ISO, and we’re going to do what we’ve committed to do when we joined this department.”

“If you ever get to the point where you don’t want to train,” added Russellville Fire Chief Joe Mansell, “you’re in the wrong field.”

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PROGRESS 2020

VINA VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT AND RESCUE SQUAD

I

n March 1978, members of the Vina community came together to form the Vina Civil Defense Fire and Rescue. In the late ’90s, the “civil defense” portion separated and became the Vina Rescue Squad, with the remainder of the group ultimately becoming the Vina Volunteer Fire Department, affiliated officially with the town.

Later the two reunited as the Vina Fire and Rescue Department, maintaining its affiliation with the Town of Vina – and continuing in service to this very day.

Today the department has about 15 firefighters and 10 support personnel, all under the oversight of Chief Michael Moomaw. Operations take place from the fire station just behind town hall, which was built in 1997 under Mayor Jones Baggett. The grant that funded the building also enabled the department to equip two pumper trucks to meet NFPA standards.

“Mayor Baggett passed away, and Mayor (D.W.) Franklin came on board and saw the grant through,” said Moomaw, who also serves as utilities operator for the town, “and has helped us as needed. Before the fire fee came into effect, we were depending on fundraisers, donations, the quarterly tobacco check – and there were times we would have to go to the town for help.”

Since Moomaw has been chief, the department has purchased one truck from the City of Russellville, a box truck from the City of Morris and, in 2005, a pumper that is the newest in the department’s fleet.

“Fortunately for us, when we didn’t have the money, the city backed us up,” Moomaw said, “but on that note: When we got these three trucks, the city got a loan through Community Spirit Bank, and the fire department was responsible for that loan.

Through our fundraisers and efforts and the support of the community, we were able to pay off that loan. We paid off all three trucks. So that is an accomplishment by the people of the Vina Fire Department, the

mayor, the council and the people of Vina.”

A big part of running a local VFD is maintaining all firefighting and rescue equipment. Moomaw and his firefighters inspect all equipment and trucks on a monthly basis to ensure everything is in good working order, and the department contracts with an outside company that comes once a year to service all trucks and perform ladder tests and pump tests.

Moomaw joined the department in the early ’90s after an incident one day when he was on the job as utilities operator. He was out reading meters and happened to come upon a shed fire.

“I called 911 and told them to page out the fire department, and I stayed there and waited.

When the truck got there, it had no water in it – it was bone dry.

So we had to fill it up and then go put the shed out,” said Moomaw.

It’s a promise from me as chief, as long as I’m chief, to make this sure this department is up to par and ready to go when we’re called out.”

“At the next city council meeting, one of the council members made a motion to put me on the fire department because I was local, I was working for the town, and I was here all the time.”

For Moomaw, firefighting quickly became a passion.

“To know that you’re helping somebody – whether you did good or didn’t do good, you know you put forth an effort to try to bring some closure to somebody by putting a fire out or saving somebody’s life,” Moomaw said.

When JC Holland resigned as chief, the council asked Moomaw to take on the role. “I

told them I would only take it if they would allow me to control it as far as making sure we would not send anybody into a structure fire unless they were fully trained and had knowledge of fighting structures fires – or any fire, or any wreck – and were fully certified and ready to go,” Moomaw said. “You’re putting somebody’s life in danger when you tell them to go into a structure fire or go to a car fire or work a wreck and they have no knowledge of what to do. They need to be trained.”

Because of Vina firefighters’ dedication, Moomaw said the community can be confident

in and proud of its department.

“It’s overwhelming to be around dedicated men and women who are willing to work and put their lives at risk on a daily basis – who are called out at 2 o’clock in the morning, fight a fire until 6 o’clock in the morning and then go home, take a shower, grab a biscuit and go to work. That’s dedication.”

As chief at Vina, Moomaw said he just wants thank his volunteers and the community.

“I want to thank our members for their sacrifice and their willingness to make this a great department,” Moomaw said. “To the people in the Vina area who voted to support the fire fee to help us in our efforts to become an even better department and a better protector of our citizens – thank you for what you did.

“It’s a promise from me as chief, as long as I’m chief, to make this sure this department is up to par and ready to go when we’re called out.”

PROGRESS 2020

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31

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PROGRESS 2020

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PROGRESS 2020

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COPIES PRINTING SIGNS & MORE Servingg Franklin Countyy Since 1976

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PROGRESS 2020

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