Networking observes National EMS week
“The theme for EMS Week is ‘improving outcomes together,’” Tennessee Strategies senior partner Mike Arms said. “We’re looking at everyone whose dealing with fire, emergency response and we’ve had a great turnout.
“The official host today is Greg Miller, [regional director] of AMR and [Chief] Jeff Devlin with Rural Metro,” Arms said.
Rural Metro Capt. Jeff Bagwell, public information officer, later said the Farragut station was built in the 1990s as a regional office for Rural Metro and AMR, after Station 14 at Dixie Lee Junction, was built in the 1960s. A new Station 14 building was constructed in early 2000.
Before the 1990s, “there was nothing between Station 14 and the Station 10 across from Beatty Chevrolet off Parkside Drive,” Bagwell said.
However, “as Farragut grew, it needed something,” he added. As such, Station 11 was built.
At one time, AMR and Rural Metro were both owned by Global Response, but Bagwell said Rural Metro was sold to Brinkley Fire Services last fall.
Brinkley’s CEO James Wessel wanted to “put the fire department to the forefront, which is what he’s done,” Bagwell said. Still, Brinkley leases space at the North Campbell Station fire hall.
Rural Metro gets 12,000 to 13,000 calls a year, with 1,700 in Farragut, according to Bagwell. These include everything from house and brush fires and car wrecks to alarms, EMS and even replacing smoke detector batteries.
Of that “70 percent are of emergency medical nature,” he added.
Sometimes, an ambulance may not be able to respond right away to an emergency, but Bagwell said the fire department might be first on the scene and has emergency medical technicians who can provide services, such as run an EKG or minimize blood loss. It also has extraction equipment in the case of wrecks.
Rural Metro is a membership-based agency, which means it serves the members who subscribe. While they provide the same service to non-members, those people are billed for that service.
Bagwell said the cost of membership is based on a home or building’s square footage, but the average cost is $500, which can be divided into 12 payments.
Since it takes the place of a county-operated fire department, “we are the reason taxes are low in Knox County,” he said.
However, Bagwell added, “That is why people have to support us. Their membership keeps us here.”
Nine people are assigned to Station 11 at Campbell Station with three on every shift. They are awaiting a $1.1 million truck currently in production.
“We are shooting for September [to receive the truck],” Bagwell added.
