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The Germantown Fire Department provides a wide variety of emergency services including fire suppression, emergency medical response, hazardous materials response and specialized rescue response. The well-trained men and women of the Germantown Fire Department staff four engine companies and two EMS squads on a 24 hour basis.
Response is from four fire stations strategically located throughout Germantown. More than 2,100 calls per year are answered for emergency service, about half of those being emergency medical in nature, with an average response time of about 5 minutes.
The department works to insure citizen safety through fire and injury prevention programs and the aggressive enforcement of the Standard Fire Prevention Code. Public fire safety education programs are provided to schools, associations, clubs, businesses and youth related groups. Citizens are invited to stop by one of the stations for a tour of the facility and equipment and some fire safety tips.
The Germantown Fire Department is composed of 69 full-time personnel, two part time personnel, 25 reserve fire fighters, and 20 recruit fire fighters. The Fire Department operates three shifts of 20 emergency personnel each.
The Department has four fire houses, three fire engines (one front line and two reserves), a 75-foot Quint (pumper/ladder truck combination), a 100-foot Quint (pumper/ladder truck combination), a 50-foot Telesqurt (pumper/ladder combination), two advanced life support rescue trucks, a brush truck, a special operations/rehab/air truck and a hazardous materials (haz-mat) response truck.
The Institution of Fire Engineers recently announced that Germantown Fire Chief Dennis Wolf has been accepted into membership in the international fire engineering organization. Wolf met stringent admission requirements and criteria including academic and professional qualifications plus fire service qualifications. Wolf is the only fire chief in Tennessee to possess the MIFireE qualification.
Fire Chief Dennis Wolf and Assistant Fire Chief John Selberg have earned the professional designation of Chief Fire Officer. The Commission on Chief Fire Officer Designation recently conferred the honor on Wolf and Selberg. There are only 319 designated Chief Fire Officers in the country. Only five fire chiefs in Tennessee have received this distinction.
GFD Forming Fire Explorer Post
The Germantown Fire Department is sponsoring a new fire explorer post, in conjunction with the Boy Scouts of America. Post 2991 membership is open to males and females between ages 14 and 20 who have completed eighth grade. Participants are not required to be involved in a Boy Scout program.
Fire Explorers will be introduced to many facets of fire service, including fire fighting, emergency medical, communications and fire prevention. Training will include both classroom and field exercises plus field trips.
A post orientation meeting will be conducted at 7 p.m. Oct. 5 at GFD Station #4 at 3032 Forrest Hill-Irene Road. For more information, contact T. Palmer at 757-7268 during business hours Monday through Friday.
GFD Personnel Aid in Hurricane Disasters
Six members of the Germantown Fire Department were deployed Sept. 2 with Tennessee Task Force-1 to aid in search and rescue missions in the aftermath of Hurricane Frances and restaged to deal with Hurricane Ivan.
The Germantown personnel included Assistant Fire Chief John Selberg, TN-TF1 leader; Captain Howard Thompson, communication specialist; Fire Lieutenant Shari Turner, rescue team manager; Fire Lieutenant Tony Hulbert, hazmat specialist; Reserve Lieutenant Paul Nickl, planning team manager, and Reserve Lieutenant Tony Fischer, technical information specialist.
The task force left Memphis on Sept. 2, heading for Jacksonville Naval Air Station to stage and await the arrival of Hurricane Frances. They used the wait period for extensive training, including advanced water rescue techniques. The group set of reconnaissance team plans and developed a rapid recon deployment concept using helicopters. The plans include a reinforced recon team that allows a more thorough search of damaged areas. Personnel from Virginia-TF2, NAS Jacksonville fire fighters and TN-TF1 team members conducted a memorial service on Sept. 11.
As Frances lost strength and became a tropical depression, FEMA retained TN-TF1 in Florida to wait for Ivan. The task force left Jacksonville on Sept. 14, headed for Maxwell Air Force Base at Montgomery, Alabama; enroute, their destination was changed to Columbus, Georgia. On Friday, Sept. 17, FEMA sent the task force to the Pensacola area, because of its Type 1 (heavy rescue) capacity to deal with large damaged buildings and high rises.
Their deployment marks the longest deployment of any FEMA USAR task force in the history of the program.
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| Emergency: | 911 |
| Non-emergency: | 757-7268 |
| Fire Prevention: | 757-7269 |
| Information: | 757-7268 |
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