James Wessel, chief executive officer of Brindlee Fire Services, was in Knox County this week. Brindlee purchased Rural Metro Fire earlier this year.
Wessel had dinner with a crew from the Powell station. He had breakfast and did rope training with crews from East Knox County the next morning.
Capt. Jeff Bagwell speaks at Knox County Commission (file photo)
“It’s priceless,” said Captain Jeff Bagwell, “to have ownership that understands what we do, how we do it and what we need to do it.
“In some careers, you may never meet the owner/CEO, much less have a meal with him or train with him. But that’s exactly what some of our crews got to do yesterday and this morning.”
Bagwell said customers won’t notice a difference – same name, same crews, same local leadership, same stations. But two new trucks are coming – one for the Rocky Hill station and another for Cedar Bluff. And a $1.1 million heavy rescue truck is on order. It will be stationed at Powell for use countywide.
Rural Metro Fire had been owned for some time by Global Medical Response (GMR), which also operates American Medical Response (AMR), which holds the contract for ambulance service in Knox County.
“The exciting part is for years the fire department has taken a backseat to its EMS sister,” Bagwell said. Brindlee is all about fire services.
Brindlee is a holding company, based in Huntsville, Alabama, which also owns Capstone, a fire and safety management company which has experience with wildfire fighting. It is based in Escondido, California.
“James is a churchman. He lives it every day. And he loves what he’s doing (with firefighting). He says he and his wife have six and a half kids – three biological, three adopted and another one who lives with them until the paperwork goes through for an adoption.”
Yes, you could say Jeff Bagwell is a happy man who loves his boss and his job at Rural Metro Fire.
