State Fire Marshal’s Office shows appreciation to volunteer firefighters
MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — To show their appreciation to volunteer firefighters in Tennessee, members of the State Fire Marshal’s Office provided food and supplies to fire departments.
“We’re here today to show the volunteer service that we appreciate what they do every day. The volunteer fire service, a lot of times they’re taking this out of their own back pocket, paying for the turn out gear, making the calls, things like that,” said Gary Farley, Assistant Commissioner of Fire Prevention for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance.
The SFMO highlighted three counties in West Tennessee: Henderson, Chester, and Madison counties.
“Basically their needs are equipment and training. That happens across the state of Tennessee, just about every volunteer fire service. We’re trying our best to help them with those needs,” Farley said.
Roughly 13,000 volunteers make up fire departments across the state, and around 140 of that number are volunteers in Madison County.
“In today’s world, everybody stays so busy and volunteerism has dropped off so we’re always in need of volunteers. We try to do a class in the fall and try to bring on new volunteers, so we’re always open for that,” said Madison County Fire Chief Eric Turner.
The SFMO will continue this initiative once every month by visiting different counties across the state.
“Really, it’s just an opportunity for us to share with the community how much this department means to our neighbors. They come when there’s a problem and help everyone out, so we just want the community to remember who they are and it takes volunteers,” said District 73 Rep. Chris Todd.
To become a volunteer firefighter you can call your local fire dept for more details.
You can find more news from across West Tennessee with the WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News app.
