Fentress County Commission’s Fire Committee will continue efforts to create a full-time fire department despite not being able to meet this year’s grant deadline.
Chair Kim Davidson said they had been working toward this for at least three years, with a lack of funds the main crux of the issue. She said despite having a solid and dedicated volunteer fire department, the county wants to hopefully increase coverage of those in the county.
“The thing that’s happened overtime, most of our volunteers work during the day and because of the world we live in and economics, most of them work out of town,” Davidson said. “So what’s happening, is during the day, we end up with very little to no coverage. So that’s why the discussion has come to the forefront now more.”
Davidson said the potential grant fund would cover the cost of a full-time department in the county for two years, after which the county would take over the expenses. She said she does not believe the committee would be ready in time to submit an application to this year’s grant portal.
Davidson said they will continue to pursue other options in the future to make this a reality.
“It’s a hard commitment to make because the people in this county work so hard for their money and people that pay taxes, you hate to put burdens on them,” Davidson said. “But if we’re property protecting, it’s what they’ve worked hard for, it’s what the full-time fire department is there for. And so again, it’s a service of hte full-time fire department to provide to the citizens of the county at the end of the day. And this would supplement all of hard-working volunteers. We have so many amazing volunteers who don’t do it for the money, they do it for the citizens. That’s why we’re called the volunteer state.”
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