Meet the people of Rural Metro Fire – Powell

Sandra ClarkPowell

Over the next few articles, Captain Jeff Bagwell will introduce you to the people who make up Rural Metro Fire. Rural Metro is a private fire department that’s served most of Knox County on a contractual basis with individual property owners for 40 years. Rural Metro Fire operates 16 (soon to be 17) fire stations in Knox County and provides ALS (Advanced Life Support) first responder services to county residents. If you are not a supporter or subscriber of Rural Metro Fire, now is the time. Call Member Services at 560-0239 to get signed up.

Powell Station 231 Blue Shift Crew: This crew boasts years of experience and talent.

Brandon Douglas has been with Rural Metro since 2002. Brandon started his career at Station 15 in the Cedar Bluff community, and after being promoted to captain, he was assigned to Station 31 in 2009. Brandon is a licensed National Registry Paramedic, Fire Officer I and Fire Instructor I. He is very involved in our website development as well as graphics design for the fire department activities. Brandon is married with an adorable little girl.

Mike Palmer has been with Rural Metro since 1999. Mike is a master firefighter and has served at various stations around the county, but most recent was the Halls Station before spending the last 10 years in Powell. Mike is a fire instructor and a fire officer as well as a licensed EMT. Mike spends a lot of his off time teaching industrial firefighting classes around the country for a local industrial training company. Mike is married with one daughter and lives in North Knox County.

Station 31 has been in Powell since 1977 and, along with the Halls and West Knoxville stations, represents one of the original communities that we served since coming to Tennessee. The first station was located on Clinton Highway, the second was on Emory Road where Affordable Car Care is located currently, and in 2006 it was relocated to its current location on Old Clinton Pike.

2018 Female Fire Camp: Rural Metro is seeking 20 young women (ages 17-25) to participate in the third annual fire camp, set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, March 12-13, at 10140 Gallows Point. The fire camp is designed to expose young women to careers in fire service. Info: Brooke Brata at 865-607-2787 or Lori.Pierotti@ruralmetrofire.com

Captain Jeff Bagwell is the public information officer for Rural Metro Fire. He writes this column for Knox TN Today each month.

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