By Ryan Lewis
Correspondent
KIMBALL, Tenn. -- Tennessee might have to ditch its "Volunteer State" motto when it comes to firefighting, Kimball officials say.
A mandate from the state Legislature forces volunteer firefighters with less than five years' experience to complete 65 hours of training at the state fire training center in Bell Buckle, Tenn. The cost is about $1,500, and firefighters must take the course on their own time.
Kimball officials said at the March meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen that the problem of unfunded directives from the Legislature is getting out of control.
"They just keep handing these mandates down and sending me these books telling me what my guys are going to have to do," Kimball Fire Chief Jeff Keef said. "I don't know what we're going to do."
Chief Keef said 78 percent of Tennessee firefighters are volunteers. He fears that the mandate will force rural fire departments to close because their volunteers can't afford the required training.
"I know it puts the city in liability if we don't do it," Kimball Vice Mayor Rex Pesnell said, "but I know there are other departments that can't do it."
Alderman Mark Payne, a former volunteer firefighter, said it's sad that the state is penalizing men and women who give so much of their time to help others.
"All they want to do is help somebody," he said. "All they want to do is help somebody put their house out and not lose their grandmother's piano or whatever. All they want to do is pull somebody out of a wrecked vehicle and help save their life. (These unfunded mandates) are running them out of business."
The mandate problem is only getting worse, officials said.
"They just keep passing the buck down to local city governments with these unfunded mandates," Kimball Mayor David Jackson said. "I don't know what the city and the county are going to do. It's just getting out of hand."
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.
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Give me a break!! A person has to have hundreds of hours of training and education to cut hair or clean teeth, but these folks who want to "pull someone out of a wrecked vehicle" or "put out a house fire" are griping about 65 hours of training?? Let's just hope they don't come to MY house with less training than that. These communities are getting "free" volunteer fire protection (staffing). Are they getting free police protection or free sanitation employees? I doubt it. The 65 hours of training should be a MINIMUM requirement and the cities/counties/communities should pony up the $1,500. The state I was certified in requires 240 hours of training before you even see the inside of a burning house, volunteer or not, and yet Tennessee boasts one of the highest civilian fire death rates per capita in the country. You do the math!
It's not that we care to do the training, because I'm willing to take my vacation time to complete it. Most volunteers will tell you that they would love to be able to take the 65 hours of training but who's going to pay for it. I can't pay it on my own. Our community helps our department raise funds twice a year to be able to operate, but a majority of the funds comes from people outside of the community and with the economic times that we are faced with, our funds from last year were cut almost in half. Maybe we should do like a department I know of in Arkansas and charge a membership to those in the community and if we respond to your property even for a false call, we'll send you a bill unless you are a member.
I totally agree with you tc81; the communities should pay for the training. You guys give of your time and energies and deserve to at least be provided with the tools you need to do your job.
Number one, you should be conducting a minimum number of hours training in the first place without it being “mandated”; number two, where were you when this issue was being discussed by your peers, associations and organizations even before it made it to the floor? Did you voice your concerns or oppositions then? And number three, what have you done since, to find out what resources are available to comply with it now that it’s law? It’s time we stop being a bunch of good ole boys and girls just wanting to help out. If we want to ride around town in the big red trucks with the woo woo going and sporting the macho tee-shirts with the pagers and radios hanging off our belts, “looking the part”, it’s high time we conduct the training to insure we can perform the job.
My department is in a county that our representatives had chosen to exempt from this training for fear that it would cause a financial burden on the volunteer departments. Boy, I’m so glad they were thinking of our well being. Ha ha Like many they were uneducated on this subject. Well guess what! Our Firemen’s Association had a resolution introduced to the county commission to include our county in this. Why??? Oh I don’t know….Maybe it insures that our firefighters have some basic knowledge of the job that they volunteer to do, it gives our departments some credibility, it helps on ISO ratings, it may save some lives and property, it may help cover my butt if the terrible does happen.
Our county is probably one of the poorest in the state when it comes to funding for the fire service. We’re a “charitable contribution” on our county budget if that tells you anything & we have opted to do this because it’s a step in the right direction, for improving services, saving lives & property both civilians and firefighters and in the end saving our taxpayers money.
I urge you to check with the Fire & Codes Enforcement Academy. This isn’t as costly as you may think. If you have a few firefighters in your county that are certified to the instructor one level they can attend a train-the-trainer class for the 16 & 64 hour classes (it’s been offered several times across the state) and the training can be conducted at your location and on your schedule. The state even provides the instructor with the course outline and forms on DVD. The cost… $175.00 per class, whether you have 1 or 100 students enrolled. Maybe involve several departments together to further save.
Before you go bashing this stop and think of the positives for you, your department, city/county and your citizens.
A couple of points from elsewhere: Training is a big part of the job. Currently our recruits attend 120-140 hours of training before they respond. This is by accredited (NFPA, State) trainers at the regional level. Usually we do 2 recruit academies per year. Alternate weekends and 1-2 evenings for 3 months. Doing it all at once, while great from a training point of view, would seem to limit attendance. The cost would be a challenge for some as well. Saying "the goverment" should pay is great, but remember you are the goverment. Oregon also requires 60 hours of accredited fire training per year to maintain certification. Asst Chief / Training Officer
Turk 182... great movie
Is the internet not wonderful, people can step into discussions from all over! I am also from Oregon (a volunteer for over 30 years). To expand on cidertom's comment (which is accurate as to what many volunteer and combination departments in Oregon do) is that the state will certify departments to do their own training internally and have a process for inviting people from other departments, NOT requiring an individual to travel to a state training facility. The state also provides regional trainers who teach at local departments.
The same is true for Tennessee, karl. The Fire and Codes Enforcement Academy has adjunct and/or contracted instructors that come out to the counties and teach. There is a small fee for many of these classes but often times they are free or paid for by DHS grant funding. As for the 16 hour orientation & 64 hour basic classes. (The "mandated" training that Kimball is furstrated over) The State has been conducting train-the-trainer classes to certify personnel so departments can conduct this training themselves. They don't have to go to the state fire training center in Bell Buckle, Tenn as the story states. (Although that would be a good idea for those who can) I know time is a premium commodity for volunteers, I've been one for 30+ years, but training is a critical part of job.
2,., I believe that there are some key facts left out of this story! I think some people need to here the rest of this story before they start making comments!!7! Keep in mind this is "the press" and they are trying to "make a story".0