He’s a young man juggling lots of balls and responsibilities, to put it mildly. Thomas Andrew Kearley, 23 years young, is Rural Metro Fire’s Firefighter of the Year for 2025. He’s in his fourth year as a Firefighter/Engineer who calls Station 34 in the Gibbs community as home.

He responds to fires, vehicle accidents, and a variety of medical emergency calls. Those are the basics. His juggling act includes much more.

Around the station, he’s called “Curly” – tied to how his last name is pronounced. And “Curly” is this week’s Our Town Hero. He’s upbeat, humble and more than surprised that this prestigious award landed in his lap. In announcing his honor, Rural Metro said that Kearley is involved in multiple committees and “works hard to promote our organization at every opportunity.”

He works on the Green Shift under Batt. Chief Lee Yager and Capt. Caleb Tuell. He’s an Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), certified in Advanced Pump Operations, a Hazardous Materials Technician, and Road Rescue Operations. In his Engineer role, he drives Engine 234. But here is one job he will not do. “I’ll clean the kitchen and all, but I do not cook. It’s really best for everyone that I don’t cook,” he said.

And his juggling act also includes these responsibilities: He chairs Rural Metro’s Recruitment & Retention Committee, is Vice Chair of the Research & Development Committee, and serves as a member of the Health & Wellness, Training Committee, and the Awards & Commendation committees. He enjoys the job fairs and promoting Rural Metro.

Batt. Chief Matthew Clift, chair of the Awards & Commendations Committee, said the agency’s voters overwhelmingly selected Kearly for the award. “It’s about his commitment, the extra work he takes on, and he is constantly working on projects to help promote Rural Metro. We fight very few fires today on a percentage basis, so the old days of knocking down doors and fires are behind us. These days, we are recognizing the other great things our folks do.”

This young man also works daily to provide updates for all 17 stations on the Rural Metro “Dashboard” system. He’s the person in charge of the Dashboard. He explains: “….We have a Dashboard system at every station and one in the CEO’s office (that’s James Wessel, CEO of Brindlee Fire Services, which now owns Rural Metro Fire). We use this Dashboard as a multimedia outlet to spread information to the department. News, updates, meetings, congratulations posts and we can send mission-critical messages to all stations simultaneously, plus using it for training. It’s truly a neat product. I really enjoy working on it.”

Busy he is – always.

The award caught him off-guard. “It was very surprising, to say the least, to be honored and I know there are many candidates other than me who are worthy of this,” he says. It’s very obvious he enjoys his job. “I really love it, everything about it. I’m excited to go to work every day. I’m never not excited to get to work. It’s about the professionals I work with and learn from. We all are about helping, and I enjoy working with these positive pros.”

Kearley moved here with his family 14 years ago from outside of New Orleans. He graduated from Bearden High School in 2021 and is currently studying for a Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity from Western Governors University.

He lives with his father, Shawn, an electrical designer working with factories and power plants to create blueprints for electrical systems. His interest in the fire world was stirred by his late mother, Debbie. She was an EMT and an R.N. She began having multiple health issues when he was young. “She started having seizures and mini-strokes and we were calling 911 for her a lot,” Kearly says. “I watched the first responders and ambulance crews come to our house so many times and that’s what got me interested. She’s why I’m in this job today.”  His mother died in February 2022 at age 52.

He joined Rural Metro in early 2022 and graduated Fire Academy in May 2022. His first station was 34 in Gibbs, followed by stops at Stations 10 on Parkside Drive, Station 30 in Halls and for two years he’s been back at Station 34.

His most memorable emergency calls include:

  • “Last year we responded to a woman working for a landscape company who was pinned between a small forklift and trailer. I was working an extra day at Station 15 that day and my partner, Hunter Mitchell, and I used the spreaders and freed her in about 2 minutes. We had to work fast and did. She survived it.”
  • “On one of my first shifts back at Station 34 in 2024 an older gentleman choked on food at a restaurant near the station. When we got there he had died. No breathing or heartbeat. We immediately started performing CPR, chest compressions and breathing for him. My captain, Caleb Tuell, a paramedic, intubated him while we were getting medications ready. We brought him back and he was alive and breathing on his own when the ambulance left with him.”
  • “We had one pretty gnarly one at the Ice Chalet in Bearden. A kid who was maybe 9 or 10 and playing in a hockey game got hit hard and landed on his head. He said he could not feel anything below his neck and was paralyzed. His family was there plus friends and bystanders, screaming and crying. Tough call. This was just before I joined Rural Metro. I was in EMT school and working on an ambulance in late 2021.” And like many other first responders, Kearley never heard about the outcome for the kid.

In his downtime, if you can call it that, he’s still juggling. 3D printing, video games, scuba diving and getting into running. “I’ve made 3D stuff for work, like a holder for gloves in our engines, and for guys personally.” He uses filament and is now creating a full Star Wars Clone Trooper uniform that will be fully wearable, so I can wear it to conventions, maybe, and other places. It’s great fun.”

Yager has been the Battalion Chief at Station 34 for only four months, long enough for him to offer a few relevant words about Kearley: “I call him Andy. He’s into everything, and I mean everything. He reminds me of myself when I was his age. He works hard to make himself better every day, takes every class he can and is great with technology and working on Rural Metro committees. Everything. He’s a special young man.”

May his juggling juggle on…..

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.

Aubrey’s Restaurants sponsors Our Town Hero. 

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