Welcome to September on the mountain! Hope everyone survived the dog days of summer. For WRES, we have had the challenge of staying hydrated while running calls. Oh, yes, and keeping the new landscape watered at Station One! These are some of the joys of having a new station and getting used to new maintenance processes for this facility.
We have had a long, slow transition into the new station as the world is still weird, and nothing is normal. However, as with much of life, the only constant seems to be change, and at WRES, we are no exception. We continue to just work with what we have and keep the big wheels rolling on the trucks as we get emergency calls.
New for us is that we now have apartments housing full time residents at Station One. While exciting, this also creates the need for defined procedures and protocols, as well as an opportunity to better serve the community. However, these are still volunteers who work full time jobs elsewhere so they are not always instantly available. And we have had to deal with certain growing pains such as “who ate my salad I had saved in the refrigerator?”
We are also in the process of reorganizing our command structure. This means that we have some new officers who are filling the positions of those who have been filling that demand for a long time.
In this regard, we would like to give a big thank you and a tip of the hat to long time officers Gary Sivley and Jeff Nix. Gary and Jeff represent almost 40 years of combined service and have filled officer positions for a number of years. We greatly acknowledge their long-term contributions and commitment to WRES and thank them sincerely for all the dedication and hard work over the years.
We now have the opportunity to congratulate new officers who will step up and fill these shoes. Jimmy Hillis remains our chief and Jim Gault remains our deputy chief. These two spend countless hours leading the organization, and we sincerely appreciate their experience and dedication, especially regarding getting the new station built and working with Hamilton County, the architect, builders and contractors.
Filling out the newly organized officer roles are Randall Hawkins, assistant chief; Jody Clift, captain responsible for training; David Atkinson, lieutenant; Sherman Ford, captain of Station 1; Jason Lockery, captain of Station 2; Sam Guin, lieutenant of Station 1; and Robert Clark, lieutenant of Station 1. Congratulations to all these volunteers on their assignments. If you know any of these folks, be sure and tell them you appreciate their efforts in donating their time.
We are still looking forward to an open house and being able to invite everyone to drop by and see the new place. There was a tentative plan to do this in October, but with the recent events regarding COVID-19, we are reconsidering that date. It is killing us that we are not able to share this new place with the general public, but we will make it happen, sooner or later! In the meantime, if you have questions or would like to be added to our group of volunteers (we can always use some help), feel free to message us on Facebook or call Station One at (423) 886-5974 and leave a message, and we will certainly be in touch. BUT, as always, if you are having an emergency, or even think you may be having an emergency, always call 9 1 1 for the fastest response.
by Jay Heavilon
We have had a long, slow transition into the new station as the world is still weird, and nothing is normal. However, as with much of life, the only constant seems to be change, and at WRES, we are no exception. We continue to just work with what we have and keep the big wheels rolling on the trucks as we get emergency calls.
New for us is that we now have apartments housing full time residents at Station One. While exciting, this also creates the need for defined procedures and protocols, as well as an opportunity to better serve the community. However, these are still volunteers who work full time jobs elsewhere so they are not always instantly available. And we have had to deal with certain growing pains such as “who ate my salad I had saved in the refrigerator?”
We are also in the process of reorganizing our command structure. This means that we have some new officers who are filling the positions of those who have been filling that demand for a long time.
In this regard, we would like to give a big thank you and a tip of the hat to long time officers Gary Sivley and Jeff Nix. Gary and Jeff represent almost 40 years of combined service and have filled officer positions for a number of years. We greatly acknowledge their long-term contributions and commitment to WRES and thank them sincerely for all the dedication and hard work over the years.
We now have the opportunity to congratulate new officers who will step up and fill these shoes. Jimmy Hillis remains our chief and Jim Gault remains our deputy chief. These two spend countless hours leading the organization, and we sincerely appreciate their experience and dedication, especially regarding getting the new station built and working with Hamilton County, the architect, builders and contractors.
Filling out the newly organized officer roles are Randall Hawkins, assistant chief; Jody Clift, captain responsible for training; David Atkinson, lieutenant; Sherman Ford, captain of Station 1; Jason Lockery, captain of Station 2; Sam Guin, lieutenant of Station 1; and Robert Clark, lieutenant of Station 1. Congratulations to all these volunteers on their assignments. If you know any of these folks, be sure and tell them you appreciate their efforts in donating their time.
We are still looking forward to an open house and being able to invite everyone to drop by and see the new place. There was a tentative plan to do this in October, but with the recent events regarding COVID-19, we are reconsidering that date. It is killing us that we are not able to share this new place with the general public, but we will make it happen, sooner or later! In the meantime, if you have questions or would like to be added to our group of volunteers (we can always use some help), feel free to message us on Facebook or call Station One at (423) 886-5974 and leave a message, and we will certainly be in touch. BUT, as always, if you are having an emergency, or even think you may be having an emergency, always call 9 1 1 for the fastest response.
by Jay Heavilon
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