DeKalb County Fire Department Receives Elite Award for 2011-12 Training Efforts

For the fourth consecutive year, the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department has been recognized as one of Tennessee’s elite fire departments for outstanding training achievement. And most notable among these awards is the department being awarded the Gold Level Award named as the #1 volunteer fire department in Tennessee for training hours. This year, the department logged 1,469 training hours, the second highest amount of training hours for any volunteer fire department in Tennessee, and was recognized as a Silver Level fire department in Tennessee for its 2011-12 training efforts. Additionally, DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department ranks #25 overall considering all 732 fire departments in Tennessee, both paid and volunteer.
DeKalb County Mayor Mike Foster commended the department’s members and officers 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 Lieutenant/Training Coordinator Anthony Boyd 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, even the best equipment is useless. We emphasize to our members that being a professional firefighter has nothing to do with your status as “career” or “volunteer”, it’s entirely defined by how you perform.” 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, a rating that many larger counties and cities do not have. 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.