DeKalb County Fire Department Receives Elite Award for 2010-11 Training Efforts

For the third consecutive year, DeKalb County Fire Department has been recognized as one of Tennessee’s elite fire departments for outstanding training achievement.
Last year, the department was awarded the Gold Level Award and was the #1 volunteer fire department in Tennessee for training hours. This year, the department logged 1,393 training hours and was recognized as a Silver Level fire department in Tennessee for its 2010-11 training efforts. Additionally, DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department ranks #33 overall considering all 732 fire departments in Tennessee, both paid and volunteer.
DeKalb County Mayor Mike Foster commended the department’s members and leaders for making DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department’s training program such a huge success. “It is amazing to see the level of commitment that we are getting from our volunteer firefighters who work hard and train hard to make sure our citizens have good fire protection here in DeKalb County. These rankings make it very clear that we have an excellent group of men and women who are willing to do whatever it takes to be ready to respond to the emergency needs of our citizens,” says Mayor Foster.
Chief Donny Green says he wants to personally commend Assistant Chief/Training Coordinator Roy Merriman and Lieutenant/Training Officer James Pennington for their determination in making our training program one of the best. “Properly trained firefighters are the best tools a fire department has. Without training, good equipment is useless,” says Chief Green. The Department’s training was a core element in the recent Insurance Services Office (ISO) evaluation that resulted in a dramatic improvement to DeKalb County’s Public Protection Classification Rating of Class 6. This translates in significant savings to DeKalb County homeowners’ insurance premiums.
If you are interested in learning more about the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department, or would like information on how to be on our team and become a volunteer firefighter, you can visit the Department’s website at: www.dekalbfire.com or call the Main Station at 615-597-2609 and leave a message. You can also visit the Department’s FaceBook group page.