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By Rachael Long

The future of the Nolensville Volunteer Fire Department has been a topic of discussion for some time — especially around the possibility of a full-time paid chief, something that is on hold while the town assess concerns with the town’s insurance company. 

According to Nolensville Town Attorney Bob Notestine, Nolensville is currently in discussion with the town’s insurance company over questions and concerns about the idea of a town employee who would be managing people who were not town employees.

Notestine also said that other projects such as road projects are also in line for consideration noting that congested roadways also impact the fire department’s ability to respond to calls. 

Nolensville Volunteer Fire Department Board President Tom Seyfried said that if the insurance concern isn’t able to be resolved that the department will still function as normal but will have to consider other ways to operate in the growing town.

“If the insurance company is just adamantly against it and they’re like, 'we can’t insure something like that,; then we’ll have to figure out a different route,” Seyfried said.

Seyfried said that the money that has been budgeted for a potential paid chief position would not be lost if the position is not approved. 

“Even if we don’t get to use it [money budgeted for the fire department] for the paid chief position, we have other needs,” Seyfried said.

Seyfried said that the growing population of Nolensville and surrounding areas presents new challenges for the department, which could be aided by some full-time staff, namely a full-time chief who could handle the day-to-day administrative work. 

Seyfried said that the ideal candidate for a full-time chief position would be someone with a good personality who has had experience with a combination department that utilizes both volunteers and paid staff.  

“That’s why we’re looking for somebody whose done a [combination department] because if you look at the rate of growth in the town, at some point this is going to have to turn into having more paid employees. It will always be supported with volunteers, but it will have to go to paid at some point and when it does we want somebody in place who can manage that and recognize when exactly that need is and not somebody who is trying to figure it out on the fly,” Seyfried said. 

While the decision is in limbo the growing needs and ability to adapt to the continued growth of the town and the county is something on the minds of both Seyfried and NVFD Chief Adam Spencer.

“As we continue to grow, it will become increasingly difficult to cover the volume of calls we are seeing with an all-volunteer contingent. We’re going to need some full-time career staff to assist our volunteers,” Spencer said in an email.

Chief Spencer publicly addressed the continued growth in calls most recently in the Sept. 5 Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting.

“We were actually down in calls for the month of August whereas normally we have been busier, but if you look at the calls we are 100 calls ahead of where we were this time last year so we are seeing the calls and we are getting busier and it’s just going to continue as we continue to build more homes,” Spencer said.

In that meeting, Spencer detailed 536 calls that the department had responded to throughout 2019 with 49 calls in the city limits and 13 outside of the city limits in August.

“Total hours served was 2,184, which is only increasing, again if you take that at $15 an hour, which is your average pay for a seasoned firefighter, we are saving the town for the month of August $32,760,” Spencer said in the meeting.

According to the National Volunteer Fire Council, 71% of firefighters nationwide are volunteers and although that number seems high the NVFC also reports that there has been a 10% decline in volunteers since 1984, a number that reflects a national shortage.

“Volunteer shortage is a nationwide problem, and, while we’ve been extremely fortunate to recruit volunteers like we have in the last 18 months, the fact remains the average ‘service life span’ of a volunteer is three-five years,” Spencer said. “Firefighting is not the same animal it was 30 years ago. We’re not only a fire department now, but an all hazards department. When people don’t know what to do or who to call, they call the fire department. The level of training now required is far and above what was expected when our parents and grandparents did it.” 

Seyfried said that Nolensville would see several benefits from full-time paid staff including an improved Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating for many citizens.

“We’ve worked so hard on our assets, the trucks that we have, the number of volunteer hours that we have, the training hours that we have, all that adds up to a really low ISO and people don’t realize it but that has a huge impact on their insurance rates,” Seyfried said. “Certainly adding paid staff would help to decrease our ISO number and that would of course reflect in decreased insurance premiums.” 

Spencer and Seyfried said that one thing that will remain consistent is the need for and appreciation of support given by the citizens of Nolensville.

Spencer said that the community support is what keeps the department going both financially and in terms of morale. From home-cooked meals brought to the station to citizens paying for firefighters’ meals when they see them out a a restaurant, it all has a positive impact. 

“The donations are even more important though. We’re heavily funded by donations and its imperative people pay attention to the mail out we send or donate online when and what they can,” Spencer said. “Every penny we take in goes directly into operating this fire department and allows us to update outdated equipment, send our people to better training, and even something as simple as put fuel in the trucks. We’re here for them 24/7/365, but we can’t do it without them.”

Seyfried said that they want the fire department to be a destination for those looking to give back, noting that there are many ways to volunteer time from helping out with cleaning the station to assisting on calls, and for those who can’t donate time the department is always accepting monetary donations.

While the possibility of a full-time paid chief is not clear, it is clear that the department will be forced to evolve with the growth that is changing the face of Nolensville and the needs of its citizens.

“Right now we’re trying to figure out where we’re going to be,” Seyfried said. “We’ve done the volunteer fire department for 40 years and we know that we’re going to have to transition, it’s just a matter of figuring out what’s the first step, what’s the second step, what’s the third step.”