Seymour Volunteer Fire Department

Dedicated to a better, safer community.

In 1971 the business owners in the small community named Seymour decided they needed fire protection for their homes and business. They formed the Seymour Volunteer Fire Department Inc. and purchased a new Boardman Class A fire Engine. The first year the department responded to a dozen calls with twelve members. By 1981 the department had grown to thirty-five members and had purchased a 4-wheel drive mini-pumper and three tankers. Station One (headquarters) was complete and the department was responding to approximately 250 calls per year. Ten years later, in 1991, the department had added two additional stations and purchased three additional engines and was responding to approximately 800 calls.
Forty years later (2011) we now operate six stations with 17 vehicles and sixty+ firefighters. We are still an all volunteer department and now provide vehicle rescue and emergency medical “First Responder” services. Seymour Volunteer Fire Department was one of the first volunteer fire departments in Tennessee to become a state licensed First Responder agency (1995). With a grant from the University of Tennessee Medical Center, we trained our first 15 responder’s sixteen years ago. Since that time the Baptist Hospital has donated four automatic external defibrillators (AED), the Robert F. Thomas Foundation donated a fifth AED, and last year the Baptist Hospital provided a $5000 dollar matching fund grant to purchase the first AutoPulse, automatic CPR device in the East Tennessee region.

The department serves over 20,000 homes (26,000 people), 200 business, 70 churches, 2 private schools, 8 public schools and 1 university (with 400+ on-campus residents) spread across three Tennessee counties, Blount, Knox and Sevier. The total response area is approximately 95 square miles. In 1971, we responded to 24 emergency calls. In 2010 we responded to over 1700 calls of which 68% were medical or rescue, 21% were fire, 5% Haz-Mat and 6% service calls.

All emergency services are free of charge, but we ask homeowners to donate 1/10 of 1% of the cost of their home and/or business, or by multiplying the square footage of the home or business by 10 cents (1200 square foot house = $120) We have bi-annual mail out for donations and an annual boot drive to collect funds for new medical equipment, vehicles and personal protective equipment. Currently 22% of the homes are donating and the average contribution is $38.00 The current budget is approximately $400,000.