Volunteer fire departments get funding increase in Hamilton County proposed budget

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) – Running a fire department isn’t cheap.

“Some of our apparatus is 32 and 36 years old. We have to use it, because we can’t afford to buy everything new,” Tri-Community Fire Chief Duane Pitts said.

The Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department is one of 8 volunteer fire departments in Hamilton County.

And this year they’re hoping to get an additional $1.5 million in county funds.

“It’s going to allow us to equip our volunteers with more state of the art equipment which in turn makes it a whole lot safer for them,” Chief Pitts said.

The Tri-Community Fire Department is funded mainly by annual subscriptions with property owners.

They also have a contract with Collegedale, and they get money from Hamilton County.

The county mayor’s proposed budget increases the volunteer fire departments’ funds.

“These are the men and women that serve the county every single day. They do a phenomenal job in our public safety sector, our first responders and again this is trying to get everybody to where they can function,” Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said.

Chief Pitts said that product liability makes operating a department more expensive and that the cost of equipment has gone up.

Equipment he said that has to replaced every so often.

“When an air pack costs $7,000 each, and you’re trying to equip 100 volunteers it gets very expensive,” Chief Pitts said.

In total the volunteer fire departments are hoping to get $1.8 million.