Sumner County could increase funding for all volunteer fire stations

SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Volunteer fire departments in Sumner County may be in line for more funding.

The move comes at the request of multiple volunteer fire stations within the county that believe the time has come for the county to give them more financial support. The proposed contract would commit funding to all of the county’s volunteer fire departments that would be used to upgrade equipment and improve the safety of their firefighters.

“We’re looking for this increase. Sumner County has always underfunded their volunteer fire departments,” one volunteer firefighter said during a Gallatin ‘Health and Emergency Services Committee’ meeting.

“I just hope that you can find it to give them the funding that they need so that they can buy… the equipment, the diesel fuel,” another member of the local fire community said at the same meeting.

The proposed $1 million increase in funds would be gradual, over an undecided timespan. It would be divided based on how much coverage each volunteer station provides in Sumner County. 

“Sumner County is kind of a constant fight,” public information officer for the White House Volunteer Fire Department, Tara Parker, said. “Every year, we have to go in and fight for our money, whereas we don’t have to do it as much in Robertson County.”

Parker explained that their budget is always “tight.” She encouraged Sumner County officials to visit their station and see how it operates on a daily basis. 

“There’s more passion with the volunteer service because we’re doing it for free,” Parker said. “We’re doing it because we enjoy helping the community. The training is there. We train the same. We test the same. We do everything a career firefighter does.”

One argument against a funding contract, at least as it’s currently constructed: the money would need to come from somewhere, possibly a tax. That means Sumner County residents would need to pay for it. 

The contract proposal will now go in front of Sumner County’s legislative committee, likely in April.