Vale Fire Department destroyed by fire, considered suspicious
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CARROLL COUNTY, Tenn. — For the second time in a month, a Carroll County Fire Department is destroyed by fire. “This is a tragedy to the whole county,” Chief Ronnie Wade said. Investigators said Carroll County’s Vale Fire Department caught fire Monday night, quickly engulfing the building and destroying everything inside, including the fire trucks. “It was just bad,” Wade said. “The way it spread and everything, through the entire building.” Although it is going to take them a while to rebuild, area fire departments said they will be around to lend a helping hand. “We’re a family here. We work together,” said Shannon Sloan with the Bruceton Fire Department. “This is just a devastating loss, again.” Bruceton’s fire department also was destroyed by a fire last month. “It’s just not good for one county to lose two fire stations in a month’s time,” Wade said. But Bruceton firefighters were on scene when Vale was in need. “We’re down, but we’re back running and responding to fires,” Sloan said. Officials said the fire at Bruceton’s station was caused by an alternator in one of their trucks, but investigators are calling the Vale fire suspicious. “I don’t know why anyone would want to burn the fire department,” one witness said. Wade said however it happened, it is a devastating loss. “Me and ole blue [the station’s blue fire truck] here, we’ve been to parades, we’ve been everywhere together,” Wade said. “We had trophies in there on the wall. Now it’s all gone.” They had liability insurance on the vehicles, but the building was not insured, according to the Carroll County Fire Department. The fire is still under investigation.
