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.
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
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
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