Sumner County committee backs adding fire coordinator to address volunteer staffing shortfalls
Summary
At a Jan. 13 ad hoc meeting, Sumner County committee members voted to include a recommendation to create a coordinator/administrator role to oversee volunteer fire departments after analysis showing current volunteer rosters may be insufficient; members also agreed to invite CTAS rep Mark Alley and local fire chiefs to the next meeting for data and guidance.
SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. — The Sumner County ad hoc committee on volunteer fire departments voted Jan. 13 to include in its forthcoming recommendation the creation of a coordinator or county fire administrator to improve oversight of the county’s volunteer fire departments and address staffing shortfalls.
The committee chair opened the study session by revisiting the "10 and 10" planning metric — commonly summarized as 10 responders within 10 minutes for structure-fire scenarios — and presented several directional formulas that used population, housing counts and 2024 call volumes to estimate minimum roster needs. The chair told members the estimates were “directional” and that some stations would need two to three times their current roster to meet the target.
Why it matters: County leaders said growth in several service areas and a high proportion of EMS calls (versus fire) mean current volunteer coverage could become unsustainable. Speakers cited how an unfavorable ISO (Insurance Services Office) evaluation can affect insurance ratings and said combining call volumes and oversight at the county level would improve competitiveness for federal and state grants such as SAFER.
Committee members identified three near-term policy pathways discussed at length: (1) continue nonprofit donations from the general fund (status quo); (2) adopt contracts for specified services with individual departments while retaining them as local entities; or (3) move toward a county fire service (either via a shell corporation contracting with departments or by operating a county fire department directly). Several members described the third option as more expensive and politically difficult in the near term but said it remained a possible long-term outcome, citing Rutherford County’s transition as an example.
Data and verification were recurring themes. Members flagged discrepancies between population figures from the Tennessee comptroller and U.S. Census counts, and concerns about inaccurate dispatch timestamps in some incident records. The committee requested up-to-date rosters and active-response counts from volunteer chiefs, saying roster-on-paper totals can differ substantially from the number of responders who are likely to show up for a call.
Funding models were also debated. Members pointed to local examples — White House and Westmoreland — where daytime staffing or pay-per-call arrangements helped maintain higher participation levels. Robertson County’s use of SAFER grant funds and per-call payments was discussed as a model counties can adapt in various forms.
CTAS and next steps: Citing the CTAS (County Technical Assistance Service) report, one member read recommendation No. 2 calling for a Sumner County fire chief/administrator. The committee voted to invite CTAS representative Mark Alley to the next meeting to explain legal and funding options and to answer specific questions about how contracts, nonprofit donations and recognition under state law interact. Members also voted to invite the volunteer fire chiefs to present current roster and response data at the same meeting.
Formal action: The committee made and approved a motion by voice vote to include a coordinator position in its recommendation. Members agreed the committee will continue the staffing-focused discussion next month after receiving updated rosters and verified dispatch times from departments.
The committee did not adopt a single funding plan; members asked staff to present two recommended options (enhanced nonprofit donations with oversight vs. contract-based funding with accountability measures) plus the status-quo option for the full commission’s consideration. The committee set the next meeting to include the CTAS representative and volunteer fire chiefs for a presentation and Q&A.
