2026 is Rural Metro Fire’s 49th year in Knox County. In effect, it serves as the county’s fire department for fire, rescue, and emergency medical services. It is the state’s 5th-largest fire agency, with 176 personnel spread across 17 stations. Lots of history.
And to that long and proud history, you can now include Deanna Lynn Sanderson Clift’s name. On Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at 3:42 p.m., she says, making note of the time, she became Capt. Deanna Clift, Rural Metro’s first-ever woman promoted to the position of fire officer captain. And she’s only 30, a hard-working single mother to two little girls.
Lt. Deanna Clift is atop an engine putting down water during a training session
The new captain today commands the Red shift at Station 10 on Parkside Drive. Her Rural Metro career began in 2018, and in early 2025, she was promoted to Lieutenant.
“This is a big thing that’s happened to me, and I’m very honored to be a captain, and the first female in this role. It makes it so special for me. I was more shocked than anything that I was the one chosen to promote. I can’t get over this. I did it!” she says. “I’ve taken on a lot in a short period of time, and I had to meet the standards for the job just like everyone else. I’ve worked hard. But I still can’t believe I’m a Captain. I’m very honored.”
It’s safe to mention the “fast track” she’s been on — in eight years, she’s gone from firefighter to lieutenant to captain, and into a leadership and stress-filled position handling a job full of major responsibilities. “It’s my job to take care of our team and ensure their training and hold them accountable. I’m the one in charge on the calls we run. We take care of our guys, and it’s my job to make sure we all get home safely.”
These were the words announcing her promotion: “….Lieutenant Clift was selected following a very competitive promotional process that included a strong field of qualified candidates. Her performance throughout the process clearly demonstrated her leadership ability, professional judgment, and commitment to service that are essential for success at the captain’s level. Throughout her career, she has consistently shown dedication, a strong work ethic, and genuine commitment to mentoring others and serving the community.”
Reared in Seymour, a 2013 graduate of Seymour High School, her initial exposure to the fire business began in 2014 when she joined the Seymour Volunteer Fire Dept. (SVFD) and worked for three years as a volunteer.
“The day I joined, they caught a fire call and told me I could follow them and watch. After that, I knew immediately this is what I wanted to do,” she remembered. “I went to Seymour’s 10-week fire academy, and it was a lot, physically and mentally. You push your body daily. I was black and blue at the end of it, and I still wanted to go back for more.”
Before her SFVD days, she spent a lot of time at the Premiere Dance Studio in Seymour, starting there as a 10-year-old. Today, her 8-year-old daughter dances there. After years of dancing, Clift became a dance instructor. The firebug ended the dancing.
In 2018, she decided to make the leap from the Seymour department to Rural Metro. She joined in May 2018, and the Rural Metro Fire Academy was next. “When I graduated from the academy, they prepared me for what I call ‘a big girl’ job, and it’s everything I wanted and expected to this day,” she says. Her eight years have taken her to stations in Corryton, Powell, Halls, Cedar Bluff, Rocky Hill, and now to Station 10 in West Knox County. There she commands Engine 10 and the Tower truck.
Through the years, she has earned certifications as a rescue technician, in rope, trench, and vehicle rescues, plus Fire 1 and Fire 2, hazardous materials, confined space, and she is an EMT Advanced.
In the emergency fire and rescue business, one never knows what’s coming next….like a fire that broke out at a coin laundry in the 400 block of N. Cedar Bluff Road in early October 2025. Clift’s crew was one of two responding stations around 7:30 p.m. She was working that day at the Rocky Hill station. “We were kind of mopping up, and I was on the hose putting water into the ceiling, and all of a sudden, what was a commercial light fixture came down and smacked me hard in the face,” she said. “Never saw it coming. I don’t remember much after it happened. They got me up and walked me out, and I don’t remember that. I couldn’t even remember the names of my girls.”
She was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center’s ER and diagnosed with a concussion. It could have been far worse had she not been wearing her mask. She took three work days off and ended up being gone for nine days recovering.
One other fire call out of Station 31 really scared her. “Yep, this one scared the-you-know-what out of me. My partner Jody Strange and I went into a mobile home fire that was super hot, and we pulled out of it because of the heat,” she explained. “I was sitting outside on the hose, and the fire started rolling over us, and my fire jacket caught fire, and I didn’t even know it. Thank God Jody saw it, and he patted me out and put the fire out. I had a few burns on my arm but nothing too bad. It could have been a lot worse.”
On another call out of Rocky Hill, a woman had driven her car into Fort Loudon Lake, and it was submerged. Clift was the first at the scene. “I dove down and pulled her out and immediately started CPR. We got a few pulses, but she’d taken in too much water, and she didn’t make it. We did all we could possibly do.”
Clift has been part of teams that used CPR quite a few times to reverse cardiac arrest in patients who had no pulse and saved them. She’s seen pediatric calls where babies and young kids were in cardiac arrest. “When it’s a baby or a kid, it’s a whole different ballgame for me,” she said.
Each of these calls and situations creates emotions and stress that are part of the job. How does she cope? “I come home to my family for our family time. That’s my rock – the girls and family. That’s what makes me happy. Those are my babies,” she says of daughters Mia, 8, and Ava, 5. “We do a lot hiking and camping and enjoying being together.”
Rural Metro Chief Devlin had this to say about Clift’s history-making promotion: “Women have been an integral part of our operations since 1977. We are very proud of Captain Clift as she continues on her journey with us.”
And it’s a journey this captain is loving.
Tom King has been the editor of newspapers in Texas and California, and also worked in Tennessee and Georgia. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email Tom at the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.
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