Hendersonville committee discusses automatic aid with Gallatin Fire Department; members favor monitoring fast-car deployment

The Hendersonville Public Safety Committee on Sept. 9 discussed whether to move from a mutual aid agreement to automatic aid with the Gallatin Fire Department for the area running from Northfield Church west toward Station 6.

Chief Bush of the Hendersonville Fire Department explained that mutual aid requires a specific request for assistance while automatic aid would dispatch both departments together for certain locations. "Automatic means that we would be sent together," Bush said, describing the Northfield Church–Station 6 corridor as the chief pinch point under consideration.

Bush said the data the city examined showed a one-year call distribution of about "46 to 8" in that area — meaning 46 calls in the corridor versus eight for the other department during the same period — and that Gallatin plans to deploy a "fast car" in January to handle many medical calls there. "It doesn't mean that Gallatin didn't cover those," Bush said, explaining that the fast car would be dispatched to medical calls first and that engines would follow when available.

Council members expressed concern that adopting automatic aid now could leave Hendersonville equipment routinely outside city limits while Gallatin's staffing increases take effect. One committee member said, "At 46 to 8 ... I have a hard time with that. I have a real hard time with that, is that our equipment is gonna be outside of Hendersonville." Several members favored continuing the mutual-aid arrangement and reviewing numbers after Gallatin places the fast car in service.

Chief Bush also noted potential benefits to the city's ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating if Hendersonville trained and counted Gallatin staffing on shared incidents. "It could potentially help us with our ISO points because we get to count their staffing," he said.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about the "fast car," which Bush described as an SUV staffed by two medically trained personnel that can initiate care more quickly than an ambulance but does not transport patients. The committee did not take a formal vote; members agreed to keep monitoring response data and reassess automatic-aid proposals after Gallatin's fast car begins operations.

No motions were made during the discussion; staff were asked to continue tracking response statistics and return with updated numbers in future meetings.