Skip to main content
Saturday, November 14, 2026Nov 14
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department urges residents to subscribe

A Tri-Community volunteer firefighter battles a blaze as it consumes a small house located near the jurisdictional line with the Chattanooga Fire Department and Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department. Not knowing for sure whose jurisdiction it was, both departments responded. Tri-Com firefighters were the first to arrive on the scene.
A Tri-Community volunteer firefighter battles a blaze as it consumes a small house located near the jurisdictional line with the Chattanooga Fire Department and Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department. Not knowing for sure whose jurisdiction it was, both departments responded. Tri-Com firefighters were the first to arrive on the scene.

By Myron Madden 3 min read

The Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department is hoping to get more residents in its coverage area to subscribe for the emergency services it provides.

Each year, Hamilton County allocates about $49,000 to the volunteer fire department, county records show. Though Fire Chief Duane Pitts stressed that every penny helps, he said the county dollars alone are not enough.

“Our budget’s over $1 million,” Pitts said. “We get 1 percent of our funding from Hamilton County.”

Most of the remaining funds come from homeowners in the department’s coverage area who choose to pay the annual $144 subscription fee, said Deputy Chief Dennis Thomason. The coverage area includes 11,800 structures in Apison, Collegedale, Ooltewah and the surrounding areas. Residents in Collegedale and Chattanooga city limits pay the fee through their taxes, explained Tri-Community Fire Department accountant Regina Walters.

photo Tri-Community fire trucks line Quail Nest Circle in 2016 after firefighters extinguished a fire at 2512 Quail Nest Circle.

Though Thomason said every call receives the same response from firefighters, regardless of whether it comes from a subscriber or non-subscriber, non-subscribers will see a difference in the service bill.