Walden’s Ridge Emergency Service (WRES) recently held an open house celebrating 50 years of dedicated service. The event was held at WRES Station One on Taft Highway and included visitors from the community, as well as elected officials and area leaders who have supported the all-volunteer organization over the decades.
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The celebration honored past volunteers whose work and determination built the foundation for the modern equipment, facilities, and highly trained membership WRES relies on today. Throughout the day, visitors had the opportunity to tour the station, explore emergency vehicles and equipment, and meet the meet the non‑paid volunteers who respond to the community’s emergencies.

Kicking off the 50th anniversary ceremony with an invocation was past WRES chairman and 41-year WRES member Bill Thornton, who joined the department the week after he graduated from high school. “The multitude of people who have been part of this organization have servant hearts,” he said before delivering the prayer. “We don’t get paid for what we do. We get to serve our community out of love, and love comes from God. God has been good to this organization and the people who have served here.”

Thornton turned the microphone over to current WRES chairman Jim Fields. “WRES has a creed that I follow in my life: service,” he said. “We exist because we have a bunch of very dedicated volunteers. The ability to serve others is one of the blessings that God gives each one of us. We have about 60 volunteers in service here, including nine new members who have just completed 64 hours of training. Also, all the money that comes into WRES goes into what you see in this room, including the equipment and training for volunteers. None of the money goes to pay any salaries to anybody. It all goes for the operations.”

Elected Leadership Shows Support
Following Field’s welcome and remarks, he introduced elected officials who took time from their busy schedules to show their support for the 50th anniversary celebration, including Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp, Town of Walden Mayor Lee Davis, Town of Walden Alderwoman Angela Cassidy, Hamilton County District 10 Commissioner Jeff Eversole, Hamilton County District 2 Commissioner Chip Baker, and Derek Green, representing Tennessee State Representative Michele Reneau.

Mayor Wamp described the WRES volunteers as, “People, candidly, who just care more about their neighbors than they do for themselves. It’s something we’re all taught growing up, something we hear on Sunday morning, to which we aspire.”

Mayor Davis said, “In addition to WRES’s 50th anniversary, this year is the 50th anniversary of the Town of Walden. What’s remarkable is that we have grown up together - how the Town of Walden has grown from the small town that we were in 1975, and how WRES has been with us and a partner the entire way.” Alderwoman Cassidy added, “It’s one of my privileges to always support WRES in all that you do.” She also shared a personal connection; her son is a full-time Atlanta firefighter.

Commissioner Baker said, “The tradition you have here is second to none. It is truly family. We are thankful for all the men and women of this great organization. Thanks for what you do to make our community safe.”
Derek Greene read a proclamation sponsored by Representative Michele Reneau. The resolution read, in part, “Being resolved by the House of Representatives of the 114th General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, the Senate concur that we honor and congratulate the members of Walden’s Ridge Emergency Service upon the celebration of the organization’s 50th anniversary, extending to them our best wishes for future success and thanking them for their tireless and unwavering service.”

Chief Hillis Recaps Five Decades
Longtime WRES Chief Jimmy Hillis, who joined the organization in 1983, wrapped up the afternoon by recalling the department’s meager beginnings in 1976, when father and son, Craig and Gene Glaze, had a vision to create an emergency service. At the time, there was no fire service outside of the city limits of Signal Mountain, no ambulance service to the entire mountain, and no rescue services besides Chattanooga-Hamilton County Rescue.

“The founders bought a used ambulance from Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department and went into a contract with Tri-Community to dispatch Walden’s Ridge. They approached the county and got a used piece of civil defense equipment and found some volunteers, including three who are with us today - former chiefs and charter members Mark Hooton and Bob Spalding, and charter member Steve Spalding.”

Thanks to the leadership of Hillis and other volunteers, WRES has come a long way. Today, the department responds to more than 400 emergency calls each year. WRES has a $350,000 annual operating budget, two modern fire stations (Station Two on Sawyer Road was dedicated in 2000), and multiple fire engines and emergency vehicles protecting the lives and property of people in the Town of Walden and unincorporated parts of Hamilton County on Signal Mountain and Suck Creek.

“This year was our largest fund drive ever,” Hillis continued. “Simply put, that’s the work of these men and women volunteers here today. They are out here every day busting theirs to save yours. I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to our organization. Whether it be your time, your energy, or your money. Without you, we would not be what we are today.”

Reunion and Get Involved
All past and present members of WRES are invited to join the department’s in-house 50th anniversary gathering on July 11, 2026. The reunion at WRES Station One will include a world-class barbecue, updates on current and planned WRES initiatives, and shared memories of commitment and service. WRES alumni should go to [email protected] to RSVP for the celebration.

WRES is always looking for volunteers. To learn more, or donate to WRES call (423) 886-5974, visit www.WRES.org or send a message on Facebook. Visit WRES Station One on Taft Highway any Thursday at 6:30 p.m. when the team has its weekly drill. WRES is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and tax-deductible donations help save millions in local taxes.

To report an emergency, call 911. It is always the fastest way to get first responders to the site for immediate help.

by Steve Bender

​Every call answered, life saved, and person helped by Walden’s Ridge Emergency Service (WRES) over the past five decades can be traced back to the dedication, skill and resolve of its founding members.
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In 1976, Eugene (Gene) Glaze and his son Craig started the department out of their home on River Point Road, turning their garage and driveway into an emergency operations center. Alongside young volunteers - many in their teens - including Bob Spalding and brothers Mark and David Hooton - they stepped forward at a time when it could take more than an hour for emergency responders to reach the area. Resources were scarce. Even so, the volunteers ran hundreds of calls every year. Their willingness to act, to learn, and to serve remains the foundation for the modern WRES that protects the community today.

Spalding says, in the early years, achieving excellence with what they had was the norm. “Our first fire truck was a World War II tanker,” he recalls. “It was a deuce-and-a-half with a flat tank on the back and the water would slosh around everywhere. I remember taking that tanker to a transformer fire and hand-cranking the old lawnmower engine pump.” Then, a very used ambulance was purchased and later a second.

David Hooton adds, “At the time, our parents served as our board of directors, and they approved all the purchasing decisions. However, Craig found a good deal on a Ford mini-pumper fire truck and bought it without the board’s permission. My dad was really upset by that because they were the ones who were legally and financially responsible. Afterwards, the members went door-to-door across the mountain to raise the money, and it all worked out.”

That mini-pumper is still in service today.

Danger, Adrenaline and Teamwork
On one occasion, when David was captain and Mark was chief, the volunteers were working on a roof fire when David fell through, igniting his bunker gear while the fire rushed up through the hole he had just created.

“For a moment, everything was heat, light and instinct. So, I stopped, dropped and rolled right off the roof onto the ground. My brother Mark quickly came over, and I remember thinking, ‘Thank God, someone’s going to put me out.’ Instead, he looked at the crew and said, ‘This is not how you come off a roof; everybody, pay attention.’ That was the fire service in those days - danger, adrenaline, and humor all wrapped together - and brothers who would rib you even while saving your life or property.”

Spalding recounts a rescue call that came to WRES in May, 1980, about a person who had fallen off Edwards Point. At the time he was the only paramedic on Signal Mountain. He also headed the WRES mountain rescue team and was assistant chief over two WRES ambulances.

Bob’s brother Stephen, also a WRES member, radioed rescue information from the cliff’s edge, as Bob and WRES member John Lines met Mike Dover. Dover was from the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) and former Vietnam War helicopter pilot, who hovered his JetRanger helicopter over the parking lot of the Signal Mountain Market (now Pruett’s). Dover’s fiancée was copilot.

“The aircraft wasn’t set up for rescue,” Spalding says. “We removed the doors while it hovered three feet off the pavement because we had to tie our ropes to the skids, run them through the cabin, and then climb inside while the helicopter rocked under our weight. John and I had to grab each other’s hands just to pull ourselves in.”

It was a hot day, and the JetRanger was struggling for lift, coming within feet of Stephen and other members of the rope rescue team as it maneuvered above Edward’s Point. Spalding and Lines prepared a heavy Stokes basket to package the fall victim.

“John and I rappelled down and found that the victim had died during the night, after rolling off the bluff in his sleeping bag. We loaded the body into the basket, and the helicopter began lifting all of us - two rescuers, the basket, and the deceased - at the end of long ropes attached to a helicopter with no hoist and no proper anchor points.”

The JetRanger couldn’t lift straight up. The pilot had to tilt the rotors downhill to grab denser air, then out over the river - 2,000 feet below - before turning toward the tiny federal parking lot at Edwards Point. As soon as the rescuers and victim touched down, the ground crew pulled the ropes clear, detached the Stokes basket, and Dover flew off.

“The entire setup - two rescuers on separate ropes, a Stokes bouncing between them, all tied into a hovering JetRanger - would never be allowed today,” Spalding says. “Modern THP aircraft have hoists and engineered rescue systems. Back then, we had rope, experience, and a pilot who knew exactly how far he could push his aircraft.”

A Foundation for Success
There are many other accounts of selfless volunteer service through the years. The common thread, according to Mark Hooton, is the deep-rooted philosophy to serve. “If you had an emergency, we didn’t care where it was or what it was, we were going to be trained, and we were going to respond. If you had something that wasn’t covered somewhere, you called Walden’s Ridge - and there would never be a bill for our services.”

That volunteer spirit has carried through several transitions for the department - beginning when it moved from Glaze’s house into a gas station on Taft Highway across from Timesville Road. It continued in 1980 when WRES expanded its medical, fire, and rescue services into a new Station One just down the road onto property donated by John Lines’ father and the building funded by Hamilton County. In 2020, the original Station One building, now a WRES parking lot, was razed to make room for the modern, 20,000-square-foot fire station that serves the community today.

“I never thought I would see what I see today,” Mark reflects. “In 1976, Gene Glaze was a lion in the EMS field and was one of the first EMTs in Tennessee. His passion for excellence and public service lives on through today’s volunteers and their commitment to helping the community.”

David adds, “This was greatly furthered when Dr. Joseph Dodds became our medical director and advanced our capabilities to serve with excellence in extraordinary ways, to the point of being recognized by the State EMS authority to serve as the testing grounds for new levels of advanced care.”

Thanks to the solid foundation laid by Gene, Craig, Bob, Mark, David, Dr. Dodds and the early members of WRES, the department now responds to more than 400 emergency calls each year. WRES has a $350,000 annual operating budget, two modern fire stations (Station Two on Sawyer Road was dedicated in 2000), and multiple fire engines and emergency vehicles protecting the lives and property of people in the Town of Walden and unincorporated parts of Hamilton County on Signal Mountain and Suck Creek.

Reunion Reminder and Get Involved
All members, past and present, of Walden’s Ridge Emergency Services (WRES) are invited to celebrate the volunteer fire department’s 50th anniversary on July 11, 2026. The reunion at WRES Station One will include a world-class barbecue, updates on current and planned WRES initiatives, and shared memories of commitment and service.

WRES alumni should go to [email protected] to RSVP for the celebration.

WRES is always looking for volunteers. To learn more, or donate to WRES call (423) 886-5974, visit www.WRES.org, or send a message on Facebook. Visit WRES Station One on Taft Highway any Thursday at 6:30 p.m. when the team has its weekly drill. WRES is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and tax-deductible donations help save millions in local taxes.

To report an emergency, call 911. It is always the fastest way to get first responders to the site for immediate help.

by Steve Bender

December 17, 2022, started as a typical Saturday morning for Terry Benson. The Lone Oak resident was busy with house chores. Needing a circuit breaker for an electrical panel, he drove to the nearby Elder’s ACE Hardware store on Taft Highway in Walden. At the ACE entrance, Benson suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA),  a medical event in which a person’s heart stops beating outside a hospital.
Benson’s truck came to a stop, impeding traffic with engine running and in gear. Longtime ACE manager Chad Hawkins was alerted by car horns and people gathered in the parking lot. Quickly reaching the truck, Hawkins saw Benson slouched in the cab. The doors locked, Hawkins and quick-thinking ACE customers broke the passenger window and pulled Benson from his truck. “He was blue, unresponsive, not breathing and had a faint pulse,” Hawkins recalls. “We thought he was gone.”

Hawkins, trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), began chest compressions and 911 was called. Next door and only yards away was Walden’s Ridge Emergency Service (WRES) Station One. Hawkins sent an ACE employee to the station for help at 11:50 a.m. At 11:54 a.m., WRES Capt. Sherman Ford and other WRES members arrived and took over the CPR. “We were hosting a child’s birthday party at the station, so several of us were there,” Ford says.

Ford and WRES Lieutenant Robert Clark alternated performing chest compressions and employed an automatic external defibrillator (AED) as well as a monitor and intravenous therapy (IV). Other WRES members helping with the resuscitation included Patricia Ford, Patrick Halstead, Lacey Hoover and Capt. Jody Clift.

Minutes matter following any OHCA, and the WRES responders’ actions were critical. Without them, the outcome would have been quite different for Benson. Immediate CPR with shocks to the heart from an AED can double or triple the chances of survival, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). However, AHA says odds for survival drop 10 percent each minute without CPR that keeps oxygenated blood flowing to the brain and other vital organs.

Proper CPR can be the difference between life and death during an OHCA. According to a 2022 report from the AHA, more than 356,000 OHCAs occur annually in the United States - 90 percent of them fatal - but not in Benson’s case. When Hamilton County EMS arrived, Ford says Benson, who was 63 at the time, had regained a pulse and was transported to the hospital where he recovered over the following weeks. Benson says he cannot recall anything for three weeks leading up to and following the OHCA but is currently doing fine under medical supervision.

“My heart function is still a little low, but, you know, I’m back to work,” Benson says. “I don’t do any manual labor, but for what I’ve been through, I am doing really well. The records show they did CPR on me 15 minutes before the ambulance got there. My daughter is a practical nurse. She said, “Daddy, the good ones, they won’t stop’ when it comes to CPR. There are a bunch of good ones at WRES.” Without them I would not be here today.


A Grateful Reunion
Captain Ford has volunteered with WRES since 2008 and has been a paramedic with Hamilton County EMS since 2005. The certified CPR instructor says, “The reason I volunteer is if I don’t do it, who will?” It is safe to say Ford has responded to his share of cardiac events requiring CPR over the past 20 years. He declined to put an exact number on the CPRs he has performed, saying,  “The undesirable outcomes unfortunately outnumber the saved lives. It is just the nature of the beast.”

Ford recalls two times when a person he helped with CPR returned to thank him and his teams for saving their lives. The first involved a young woman who collapsed on Signal Mountain more than a decade ago during a sudden cardiac arrest resulting from a congenital heart defect. The second was Benso, who recently was reunited with Capt. Ford.

“I just happened to go by WRES one day and I noticed some people there,” Benson says. “They were having a get together for some kids. So, I went in and introduced myself and told them that the Lord had opened the door for them to be there to save my life. Sherman was there, and I got to hug his neck and thank him.”
When Ford was asked about the reunion, he says “It was a team effort,” giving credit to the other members of WRES, ACE Hardware manager Hawkins, ACE Hardware customers and Hamilton County EMS. He also encouraged more people to learn CPR. For him, CPR knowhow starts with his immediate family including wife and WRES volunteer Patricia, firefighter and emergency medical technician (EMT) son Matthew and young son Josh who spends much of his free time at WRES learning lifesaving skills next to the volunteers.
“Don’t be afraid to help somebody,” Ford says. “First and foremost, get some kind of training. There are all kinds of opportunities out there, including with the American Red Cross, the YMCA and The American Heart Association.”

Benson agrees. “Everybody ought to know CPR. We do not have enough people out there who can take care of a situation like mine. An ordinary person who has not been trained could not have done CPR on me for 15 minutes.”

Today, Benson is grateful for his life. “You know, it’s just the way the Lord arranged things,” he says. “If it happened anywhere else, I would not be here. But the timing was perfect for me to be at ACE, WRES having a birthday party and the right man there to perform CPR.”


Get Involved
To get medical help or report an emergency, call 911. It is always the fastest way to get first responders to the site for immediate help.

To volunteer or donate to WRES call (423) 886-5974, visit www.WRES.org or send a message on Facebook. Visit WRES Station One on Taft Highway any Thursday at 6:30 p.m. when the team has its weekly drill.
WRES is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and tax-deductible donations help save millions in local taxes.
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by WRES Volunteer Staff

Walden’s Ridge Emergency Services  is made up of more than 50 dedicated volunteers who are on call around the clock to quickly respond to fires and provide medical assistance throughout our community. Additionally, many WRES members are part of an award-winning rope rescue team.

For decades, these highly skilled individuals have helped countless injured or lost hikers, bikers, and even motorists who have driven off the pavement in the Town of Walden, unincorporated parts of Hamilton County, and, more recently, new biking trails at Walden’s Ridge Park. To prepare for rescues large and small, they complete 40 hours of rigorous rope operations training, as well as 40-50 hours of intensive technical instruction. Drills and training exercises are held throughout the year to maintain their skills and stay updated on rope rescue practices.

In turn, these volunteers rely on specialized equipment to ensure the safety of both rescuers and those being rescued. Recently, WRES received a grant from Hamilton County that will allow us to make rescues more efficient and faster than ever before, according to Capt. Jason Lockery, a volunteer with WRES for the past 21 years.

“We’ve always been fortunate to have a large amount of equipment, and it has evolved through the years as new techniques are developed and learned,” Lockery says. “This Hamilton County grant allows us to replace aging equipment with up-to-date and lighter equipment than we’ve had in the past.”

For example, the upgrade includes new 11-millimeter ropes and supporting devices, such as lightweight carabiners, pulleys, ascenders, descenders and helmets - a significant improvement over the existing, aging equipment. “The upgrade reduces the weight rescuers must carry by approximately 25 percent, and we have fewer components to change out,” Lockery adds.

Considering it is not unusual for the team to carry the equipment one to five miles, in steep and uneven terrain, to reach a victim, the improvements will be well received by all. “There are all types of places people discover to get injured or stuck,” Lockery, who has been on hundreds of rescue calls, says. “Rarely does a rescue take place in a parking lot.”

Staying Safe
The best-case scenario is that WRES does not have to put this new rope rescue equipment to use. Captain Lockery, also a local Boy Scouts of America scoutmaster, offers a few tips to keep in mind before hitting the trail.

“Always have a plan so you know where you’re going,” Lockery says. “Tell people where you are going and what time you will be back. Carry a map or some other navigation device. Do not depend on a phone app because phone signals get lost in the woods. Pack food, water and a flashlight in case you are lost overnight - and a cell phone is not a good light source.”

If you do get lost, he says to follow the S.T.O.P. acronym:

• Stay put - it is easier for rescuers to find a stationary person than one who is moving.
• Think - Consider what resources you have if the situation extends overnight.
• Observe - Take note of your surroundings and shelter options.
• Plan - Determine what you can do to conserve energy and be comfortable.

In case you or someone else is injured during a hike or biking accident, or for any emergency, call 911. It is always the fastest way to get first responders to the site for immediate help.

Volunteer and Donate
To volunteer or donate to WRES call (423) 886-5974, visit www.WRES.org, or message us on Facebook.
WRES is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, and your tax-deductible donation helps save millions in local taxes. We would also love to see you at WRES Station One on Taft Highway any Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. when we have our weekly drill.
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by WRES Volunteer staff

With emergency services, sometimes there is never a dull moment. For example, the month of May turned out to be a never-dull month. Hats off to the many volunteers who respond to these calls, day or night, and always find a way to mitigate a disaster.

Friday, May 3, was the scheduled night for rope rescue refresh training. It is always good to get your hands dirty (so to speak) once in a while to keep our skills fresh and at the top of our minds. When you are on an emergency scene, it is never the time to try and remember whether something goes inside or outside or if a water knot is the right knot for a certain type of support. At any rate, these updated skills are best deployed without having to think.

We were called to the Rainbow Lake area as part of a search-and-rescue. Despite their best efforts, members of the Signal Mountain Fire Department quickly found the first family member underwater but were not able to revive her. It took a larger team to search for the other family member who went underwater in an attempt to save the girl who first slipped and went underwater. This was a tragic event for the families involved and a reminder to all who participated that not all the emergencies we encounter end with a happy result.   

But, some do end with much better results. After a night of training, we were called the next day to assist in the rescue of a missing person. A family reported that they had become separated from a child while hiking near the Middle Creek trail head on Suck Creek Road. With the help of Hamilton County Emergency Services, Hamilton County STARS, Signal Mountain Fire Department, and the Hamilton County EMS and Sheriff’s Department, the juvenile was located unharmed and successfully reunited with the family. These outcomes are the reason we train so we can have more good results for our own peace of mind.
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If any of you reading this column find this interesting and think you may be able to help contribute to our success, we certainly invite your participation to become a volunteer. At WRES, we are not just a fire department - we are a comprehensive provider of emergency services. As a volunteer, you are not required to know everything about everything, but you could learn a lot about one thing that we do and be a valuable member of our team. This could be firefighting, emergency medical response, technical rope rescue or search-and-rescue, and some people are just great at arriving at a scene and providing support. It all helps.
If you would like to know more, stop by our Station One at 2100 Taft Highway any Thursday night at 6:30 p.m., call us at (423) 886-5974 and leave a message or send a note of inquiry to [email protected]. We would be happy to answer all your questions. But, as always, if you have an emergency of even think you might be having an emergency, always call 911 for the fastest response.

As we enter in the almost-spring season on the mountain, we are always glad to see the daffodils and warmer weather arrive. Which means people will start using the Walden’s Ridge Park, and we need to plan for any incidents. We continue to be good stewards of your donations and always appreciate the support.
Open burning is allowed in Hamilton County until April 30. Please obtain your burn permit and be aware of the requirements of open burning. You are allowed to burn brush and leaves and other items from your yard. You are not allowed to burn trash, hazardous materials like treated lumber or other construction materials. These items are for the trash and not open burning.
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We also very much appreciate notice that you will be burning. We received notice a few weeks ago that residents would be burning some brush and leaves along the brow. Burning close to brow is visible from the valley, and, sure enough, we got a call from someone calling from their car on Mountain Creek Road to report that they could see smoke and fire on the mountain. Well, we are glad to know that people are paying attention, and we always appreciate an early call versus a later call. And, we very much appreciate our residents letting us know they will be burning so we don’t get too excited about a call like this when we know there will be some open burning in the area.

When you do burn your brush and natural vegetation, please also follow the guidelines of your burn permit. Never leave the fire unattended. Winds do change on the mountain, and a small fire can get out of control very quickly. Also, you are not allowed to leave your fire burning after 4 p.m. in the afternoon, so please have a plan for putting out your fire before this time.

Recently, WRES met with members of the Chattanooga Fire Department, Hamilton County Emergency Management and Homeland Security and Hamilton County EMS to discuss Walden’s Ridge Park. Walden’s Ridge Park is the new hiking, biking and bouldering park on the side of Signal between the W Road and Mountain Creek Road. The folks from SORBA Chattanooga have developed the park map and trails in conjunction with Hamilton County Parks and Recreation. Accidents do occur with these activities, and we want to get ahead of this issue in case something happens. Thus, we are prepared with a well-coordinated and safe response with all agencies involved.

We completed our annual fundraiser and always appreciate the community support. Community support is key to our success, and we were honored recently by the Walden’s Ridge Community Guild. Mary Catherine O’Kelly of the WRCG came to Station One and presented a check to Tracey Thornton, membership chair of WRES. Many thanks to the Guild for their donation and support.

To contact WRES, you can stop by Station One on Taft Highway next to Ace Hardware any Thursday night at 7 p.m. when we conduct our weekly training or contact us via our Facebook page or call the station at (423) 886-5974 and leave us a message. However, if you have an emergency or even think you may need some assistance, always call 911 for immediate assistance.

As we enter in the almost-spring season on the mountain, we are always glad to see the daffodils and warmer weather arrive. We were in high hopes of our high call volume slowing down this year, but that has not been the case so far in 2023. We continue to be good stewards of your donations and always appreciate the support.

Open burning is allowed in Hamilton County until April 30. Before burning, please obtain your burn permit and be aware of the requirements of open burning. You are allowed to burn brush and leaves and other items from your yard. You are not allowed to burn trash, hazardous materials like treated lumber or other construction materials.

We also very much appreciate notice that you will be burning. We were notified a few weeks ago that residents would be burning some brush and leaves along the brow. Sure enough, we got a call from someone calling from their car on Mountain Creek Road to say that they could see smoke and fire on the mountain. Well, we are glad to know that people are paying attention, and we always appreciate an early call versus a later call. Know that we very much appreciate our residents letting us know they will be burning so we don’t get too excited about a phone call like this.

When you do burn your brush and natural vegetation, please follow the guidelines of your burn permit. Never leave the fire unattended. Winds change on the mountain, and something can get out of control very quickly. Also, you are not allowed to leave your fire burning after 4 p.m. in the afternoon so please have a plan for putting out your fire before this time.

Last year, we ran a record number of calls, with over 400 emergency calls reported. This is more than one a day, which is higher than normal for us. We seem to be starting off this year with the trend continuing, averaging at least one call per day. Now, these are not all emergencies that require a huge response, but every call is important. Most of the calls we run are for citizen assists or medical emergencies. These are legitimate calls, and we take them seriously. If you are having a medical emergency, yes, please call 911. If you cannot get up or out of your car for some reason, yes, please call 911, and we will be there to assist.

We completed our annual fundraiser and always, always appreciate the community support.  Running an all-volunteer fire department may not sound like a financially stressful burden, but at times, it can be. As a fire service, we operate under the guidelines of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), which sets the standards for all fire departments in the U.S. and, to keep our insurance and for the general safety of our members, we have to follow NFPA guidelines. For example, we have to pressure test the pumps on our firetrucks every year to confirm that they meet the current standard. We then document this testing to show to the Insurance Services Office our fire service rating, which affects all of our residents’ homeowners insurance policy pricing.

Imagine, with all the vehicles we operate, how many feet of large and small fire hose we have to carry. We have to pressure test this hose every year to insure it meets the current standards, but we also have to track the age of this hose. The National Fire Protection Association has a standard that dictates firehose can only be used for a set amount of years. So, despite the fact that this hose looks good and performs properly when tested, when it hits a certain age, we are required to replace that hose with new hose. We do this to maintain our ISO ratings and for the safety of our members who use this hose, although it can run into thousands of dollars for this replacement. Know that your donations are what allow us to keep up with the standards and help keep our volunteers safe, so thank you.
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To contact WRES, you can stop by Station One on Taft Highway next to Ace Hardware any Thursday night at 7 p.m. when we conduct our weekly training; visit our Facebook page; or call the station at (423) 886-5974 and leave us a message. However, if you have an emergency or even think you may need some assistance, always call 911 for immediate assistance.

Greetings to all on the Mountain. We at WRES are glad to see the last year close out as we look forward to 2023. In 2022, we ran a record number of calls. Over 400 calls in one year is a lot for our department, and that could possibly be the record number of calls we have received in one year.  Not that any of you are more careless, but the population increase in the unincorporated areas of the mountain could explain much of the increase we have experienced.

So, let’s close out 2022 with some good news, and then say good riddance. We were able to stop running calls long enough to enjoy an annual celebration and banquet. This is something our board of directors organizes as an annual thank you to our members. This event is also an opportunity for our leadership team to recognize members for their outstanding accomplishments.

Russ Harwood and Dax Turner both received the Decade Award for 10 years of service to the department. Chief James Hillis selected Patricia Ford for the annual Chief’s Award. Lieutenant Robert Clark was named the winner of the Dr. J.J. Dodd Medical Award. The Captain Sib Evans Leadership Award was earned by Capt. Jody Clift and Capt. Sherman Ford. It is a great honor to receive this award that was named for Capt. Sib Evans. Every year, the membership votes on one member to be named the Volunteer of the Year. This is prestigious because it is an acknowledgement from one’s peers. The 2022 Volunteer of the Year Award was given to Patrick Halstead. Congratulations to all award winners!

While being a volunteer in an emergency service is rarely fun and games, there are times when it actually can be! In December, we were asked to host a birthday party and show some kids around the station and introduce them to the service. Happy Birthday, Estella!  We enjoyed hosting you and your friends for your special day.

As we continue into winter, please be careful with your open fires and your home heating. Yes, we do get brush fires this time of year despite the wet, chilly weather. And, we also send a reminder that the No. 1 cause of house fires in Tennessee last year was someone leaving a cooking pot on the stove unattended. Yeah, that is a crazy but true statistic, so please be mindful when cooking and do not to leave items on the stove by themselves even for a minute.

We are always looking for volunteers to assist at WRES, so this is your chance to get involved. No, you do not have to be a physically fit young person to make a difference at this volunteer service. With our new station, we need help with record keeping, general maintenance around the station, vehicle maintenance and a host of other “non-emergency” activities that can be done. If you would like to be involved, please don’t hesitate to reach out for more information.
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We also invite comments from the residents we serve.  You are welcome to call Station One at (423) 886-5974 and leave a message, stop by any Thursday night at 7 p.m. when we hold our weekly drill on Taft Highway or reach out to us through our Facebook page and leave us a message.   ​