Gray fire station goes days, weeks without responding to calls

GRAY, TN (WJHL) s homeowners in Gray push for de-annexation, City of Johnson fire call logs reveal the fire station they help fund has the lowest call volume in the entire city.
According to public records, firefighters in that zone responded to just a little more than 100 fire and medical calls from November 2014 through November 2015. In one case firefighters in that zone went 25 days without responding to a single call, according to the call logs.

[@rockoutmj666]

Why the fuck are we complaining? less calls means less accidents! Last I checked, that was a good thing

[@jackiechan_wtf4041]

projectBOOM Residenst are complaining because if there are less calls, why pay extra taxes to keep more fire house open.

[@ryanb6679]

Jackie chan_WTF because what if a block goes up in flames and the 2 stations can't handle it and another block goes up in flames because the fire is spreading I think your going to want as much help as you can get

[@jackiechan_wtf4041]

Ryan B I'm not saying I want the fire house shut down, please feel free to convince those residents, not me. Yes I agree getting as much help is always a good idea.

[@Nebs1]

It's weird how they are upset that their isn't more disasters and injuries in their city. "Our fire station gets a call once every second day, it's so terrible that they are not more busy" Paraphrasing half the people in this video.

[@TheJakeman789]

No they are mad and have every right to be mad. They make easy money, it’s a total waste of tax payers money.

[@Nebs1]

@@TheJakeman789 well do you close it down and just hope for the best when emergencies happen?

[@rockstarofredondo]

@@Nebs1 You go to the volunteer model just like the couple at the start was talking about.

[@smittyvidz25fire84]

@@rockstarofredondo as a volunteer myself. You can only ask so much of them. Recruiting young fireman is hard. Getting them to respond during a work day is hard. So unless residents are not stepping up and creating there own volunteer dept. then they part of the problem

[@maxmccann5323]

@@TheJakeman789 God forbid your house burns down 🥴 see how you do with your garden hose and big ass ego when it comes to saving someone trapped on the second floor. You haven't a clue about insurance policies buddy, remove yourself.

[@robmoney4life]

Its better to have and not need rather than need and not have

[@charlesrudish9147]

Tell that to your City Council when they start cutting budgets.

[@alexandrucampina]

Exactly, if you close it, there will be a fire, if you don't close it...it's nice and quiet...that's the probability!

[@mikegaskin5542]

There's a cost-benefit calculation to be made, though. If there are VFDs in the area and the paid station gets no calls, it's time to face the music

[@alexandrucampina]

@@mikegaskin5542 You are right, but you know that if you close it ...the posibility to happen something bad it's more likely and people will say...if there was the firefighters...u know.

[@waynefrancis5843]

Sorry to be so off topic but does someone know of a tool to get back into an instagram account..? I somehow forgot the password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me.

[@tonyroc14]

Low call volume is good!

[@jaysmith1408]

Right? Like I really want to be dropping everything and busting my arse multiple times a day. I’ll take a quiet week or two, we all will.

[@seanwink2379]

@@jaysmith1408 What. Us firefighters LOVE getting calls, we love helping people as much as we can, anytime we get a call, we get to actually do our duties. So we like high call volumes

[@jaysmith1408]

@@seanwink2379 wouldn’t it be better if nobody needed help? I mean, I have no problem going out to help at all hours, shit, I was just on the highway for five hours last night, but if nobody needs help, that’s the end goal.

[@TriColorMonk]

@@seanwink2379 No calls means the public is safe. It’s what we should strive for through public safety and outreach.

[@seanwink2379]

@Seriously Doe Just saying, 99% of medical personal and fire personal all feel the same. So go ahead and say that if you want, it'll never change. What happens to people is horrible, I admit it, but I still have fun running calls, and if we have none to run, then it's a boring day. We love running calls because we LOVE OUR FUCKING JOB. Hard to grasp the idea of it?

[@Jdawg1948]

A wise firefighter once told me the end goal of our job is to put ourselves out of a job. These guys are winning

[@caydenbenson4218]

Did anyone see man dies by blowing up a condom machine in the headlines

[@rogue54545]

Cayden Benson Lmfao

[@andrews3153]

Haha. Yeah, lost interest in the video and started reading the headlines scrolling across the bottom of the screen. That was very funny!

[@andrews3153]

Cayden Benson and also did this fire station repond to that call or was it not in their annexed part of the county? Lol

[@TechTubeHDReviews]

BWWHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA

[@TechTubeHDReviews]

So fuckin funny

[@rhoonah5849]

A fire station is like insurance... you pay for it hoping you never need it but you're really happy that you have it when you need it.

[@lukemorris3299]

Gets rid of the fire station. Entire town burns down

[@htown513]

I like that dudes attitude on not closing fire houses!

[@marcoh.3467]

God damn it, you can't say this area do not need this fire station because of low responding numbers! It depends on the infrastructure, citizens and the potential of emergency situations in the area. So in one year no one needs the firefighters and in the other year you have alot more calls and emergencys! Yes it cost tax money but in a situation you need them you are happy there is exactly this firestation that saves your life!

[@hngbones]

teller of truth. No they can't. Remember... Volunteer departments are voluntary. They will show up for a fire, but won't show up for training and learning. Many of them have no idea what they are doing.

[@Marco-ip5cw]

Marco H. Hey outer marco

[@vinpiazzo801]

hngbones especially in PA where training isn't even mandatory to have before running calls

[@skyking6989]

Vinny Cikovic I lived in PA for many years and I agree the volunteer fire departments are pretty much clueless and run around with no idea what there doing

[@vinpiazzo801]

long dong silvers I was a volunteer there and while I would never say I was a great firefighter, I tried my best and got the training I needed in order to be competent on scene. Many, many departments didn't encourage that type of behavior and just let their members do whatever they pleased. And the quality of their craft (or lack of) showed when it came down to it.

[@Koshunae]

2:15 "Man dies after blowing up condom machine" That's the story I want to hear about.

[@Nebs1]

why doesn't that report come up in my recommended videos on KZbin

[@mamalamadrama4586]

Koshunae foreal

[@robertgrubbs222]

Hem57i its click bait

[@Rogervista100]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnnQcpufe9yliZY

[@TheMagicSpoolbus]

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-europe-35189938

[@NightRider102387]

Those 2 fulltime firefighters have an awesome job

[@alexgonzalez906]

25 days without a call that's freaking normal for me God I can almost go a month without one call

[@penguin4587]

I will be lucky if there's one call a week

[@ricochetey]

Alex Gonzalez With out responding to a call not having a call

[@alexgonzalez906]

eric kelly same here

[@penguin4587]

Alex Gonzalez August 5th was a the last call my department made it to a scene, not getting cancelled for a reason

[@billjohnson8704]

And now mike will have 3 corvettes

[@poppiarlin5612]

Fire protection isn’t needed until it is needed! Then it is needed dearly!

[@charlesrudish9147]

Yeah, Nebs, it's weird people are upset their station doesn't have more runs, but I have to tell you, they are not alone with this problem, if you want to call it a problem. I use to be a full timer of a city FD in Florida. We had 6 stations at that time, and out of the 6, only 2 had any runs to speak of. Most of the guys at one point or another had requested transfers to Station 5, in the getto, because they got the brunt of all the 'big' fires. Station 1 was their second in station, but no one wanted to be stationed there, it is their Main station, and during the day, was crawling with all the Brass. A firefighter is a firefighter for one reason, to fight fires. That's what they signed up for. It's tough for the guys sitting on their asses at the other stations, all crowed in the radio room, listening to sta. 5 or 1 or both, having all the fun. I eventually became a paramedic, for all the right reasons, but I'll admit, also to get the hell out of the station. We would go weeks and even months with out a decent fire call. At least as paramedics, we now responded to all fire calls in the city, regardless of what district it was in.

[@orden3142]

Is it just me or isn't it good that they have less calls

[@charlesrudish9147]

It's just you...What do you think they are there for??

[@Degblan]

I bet they would want a fire station if they had a fire in their house 😂

[@johngorman389]

If I understand the system correctly, Washington County FD's do not have automatic aide agreement from Johnson City FD, thus if a call goes out in a non Johnson City address across the street from the JC Gray station, only the Gray Vol FD and surrounding Vol stations respond. Its not that the JC Gray station is that slow, the system needs to be correctly managed for them to increase the call volume. The JC Gray station has a sliver of first due for the future annexation of property for the future, its a show piece only. Gray Vol FD is a busy station, and they are just down the road...

[@thejrff93s]

This is the very definition of a Vacation Station

[@georgiohenderson5998]

If this station is removed, all it takes is one fire for the citizens to beg for it back. I'd let that house burn down if i were the city, then be like "i told you so".

[@jaysmith1408]

A volunteer service, or even a paid by call service could do the work of a career station less expensively, and can often get more crews on the road. Might get two, might get sixteen.

[@hngbones]

jfsa380 not true. A ready willing station vs a volunteer sitting at home... Gets a call, drives crazy through the streets, gets to the station, 20-30 minutes before that truck is at your door. vs paid and waiting is a less than 6 minute response.

[@jaysmith1408]

hngbones now our town is fairly small, maybe 1.5 miles long, but we're out the door with a crew averaging four, within three minutes. On scene for mutual aid averaging six from disbatch.

[@hotff50]

jfsa380 then your the exception. I am a career firefighter and I went from a completely full time department with 3 men per engine 4 stations to a combination department. I am one of 6 full time members, the rest are paid on call. Our response is sketchy at best on most runs. As you said your responds can be between 2 and 16 guys... What can you do with 2 guys? Pull up a lawnchair and watch it burn? Think before you comment. Your comparing a Cadillac to a chevette. And I have to call bullshit on your response numbers unless you have a high unemployment rate in your town and everyone sits around waiting for the alarm to go off!

[@nfnb8869]

If the citizens feel the service is needed, they need to fund it. This is not an issue of the fire department or the city's management, it is an issue from the elected officials that budget the funds. The citizens know very little about Fire, Rescue, and EMS. All they want to know is if I need them I call 911 and they should be there in 60 seconds. But let the departments go to city management and report what they need, and city management go to the governing body and say we need to increase taxes to continue to pay these guys a pittance, the city's governing body will respond, "if I vote to increase taxes to provide service, I won't get re-elected. The people don't want to pay for this!" So who are you, you're the people. If you want full time service tell your leaders and be willing to support them in increasing the funds necessary to provide it. Who the hell told you everything in life was free!

[@pas42hfd]

Matt Wiltsie you hit the nail on the head...the article says the station is only staffed with 2 firefighters? So what exactly can they do? Do the wait for the supplement of call/volunteer firefighters to show up before responding to a call? Not enough info in this article.

[@scottyweimuller6152]

Anybody else catch the crawler at 0:16 that said "Man dies after blowing up condom machine?" I think he took the word blowing the wrong way

[@ElusiveMonk47]

Firefighter must be fucking chillin

[@joshuadoll9000]

So what, instead of averaging a call every 3 days they'd rather have a call daily or multiple calls daily? A call every 3 days is still pretty decent. SMH

[@pas42hfd]

Nine stations in a city of roughly 66,000 people over 42 sq miles. This one in particular is only staffed with 2 firefighters 24/7? How many of the other 8 stations are only manned by 2 firefighters? What is the overall fire departments yearly call volume?? I'm a full time paid firefighter with 19 years on a department that runs roughly 14,000 calls a year over 32 sq miles. Staff 4 stations with a minimum of 3 firefighters per apparatus (4 pumps, 1 truck, 1 heavy rescue). Maybe consolidating some fire stations make sense. It would be safer for the firefighters and the residents. You can't accomplish much with only 2 firefighters on a rig? I don't think there is enough information in this video to make a educated guess on this matter....just my opinion.

[@jaysmith1408]

38 calls a day? Yeesh. How are y’all with outside help? Our nearby city (and my former residence) can’t stand it. No help at all for any reason. Our Lt moved on to another city, and they run, and receive, mutual aid to and from outside companies on a daily basis. One of our instructors works full time at a career department that only staffs two, they’re useless, and have single company responses. The one where our Lt is now, doesn’t have that problem, nor has to pay out a fortune to be self sufficient, since they work so well with the neighbours.

[@glennhuber4975]

So what happens when you do get a call? Assinine if you ask me. We went without a call for a month, should we get closed down?? Bean counters at it again!!

[@mcswimmons9507]

Birney Hoover they aren’t not having a fire station they are switching to volunteers

[@4lderion]

No call make it say the city is safe, and nobody died or nobody losing their house or something, its good for everyone.

[@PatrickBaptist]

Am I the only one that felt the title was misleading just a little?

[@danielcrowley7756]

They didn't talk to a single firefighter!?

[@screamineagle88]

Fire and rescue units are never needed .... until they are needed. But in those situations, one second can determine whether someone lives or dies.And when it's YOUR butt in that situation you'll be hoping someone gets there in time.

[@charlesrudish9147]

The sad thing about that statement is, your city leaders don't think that way. If there is a way to cut taxes to keep their jobs, and your's has to go, or close a station, so be it. All they see is the bottom line.

[@Cryptonymicus]

Who got paid to build the station? Who got the construction contracts? What other contracts they get?

[@trooperandcooperale3057]

If you don't need the fire station, cancel your house and contents insurance against fire. You obviously don't need it. 100 calls out in 1 year, thank God they were there for those 100 calls.

[@nickc2708]

And how is this bad?

[@cotton1983]

This is stupid. Would rather risk a longer response time and higher insurance over what exactly? You need an additional special insurance when your dealing with volunteer firefighters and lots of people don't even know about it.

[@bmouch1018]

It's always the same, people shut us down or cut our pay or whatever, and then as soon as they shove us into the corner they need us immediately. Then they bitch "Where were the firefighters!?"

[@Mark-em5zm]

They don’t see the benefit because they haven’t had a heart attack or a fire yet. Then the day it does happen they gonna be pissed the city fire didn’t respond because they quit paying city taxes.

[@oldfordman68]

Oh come on city leaders just be honest with your people, the reason you want to keep that station is to lower the cities insurance rates when you explain it to the citizens in a cost savings way it makes sense and you get less push back

[@slowdownmoveoversharethero9701]

How about instead of not responding to calls take time to help in other areas.

[@mathewwatkins8459]

Oh aunt Trudy always complaining about something 😂

[@sustainablesolutions9152]

We get less than 40 calls per year, so what.

[@juliogonzo2718]

Omg that would be horrible sitting there washing trucks, mowing the lawn four times a week, and other busy work. I at one time seriously wanted to be a fire fighter, tried out for a few jobs (Yeah right 3000 applicants for 6 jobs at one of them) glad I didn't get them. Would end up on mental health leave if I went through all that only to not do calls for days on end. T'hell with that.

[@leefisher.styrenemarine5566]

If I lived across the street from two different fire stations it wouldn't matter to me either but it's the one that lives 5 miles from there that wants that station to be there because minutes count those were the stupidest remarks I ever heard anyone say what that man in the woman said at the beginning in regards to fire department

[@ChakatNightspark]

25 days with out a call. I say thats a good thing. and not a bad thing. and not a reason to get rid of them

[@pfireman911]

Everyone wants to complain as long as they don't need it

[@seasickcaptain5249]

You know what I hope? I hope that every police officer, every firefighter, every first responder gets paid to do NOTHING. I hope they never have to respond to another call again. I hope that those who protect us never need to fire their weapon. Complaining about low calls is a GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE! People are being safe, people aren't committing crimes, people arent in danger. When you start to cut back on services, thats when bad things will happen.

[@johnnysbricks483]

That’s a good thing, you don’t want them to get calls, it’s common sense!

[@toddmillerjr99]

Longest I've ever gone without a call was 2 months and 17 days. Not even a mutual aid call, medical assist, or station coverage.

[@randyelsbury321]

Must have a good fit prevention program

[@roboko6618]

If people are against closing it down then why not give the firemen some revenue producing work to be doing in their station whilst they wait a month for a call instead of being paid to sit and twiddle their thumbs.

[@crazyt1483]

don't close the station just expand its secondary response area

[@mamalamadrama4586]

the title is misleading made it seem they ignored calls

[@Grayarea321]

You don’t need it.........until you really need it....

[@mitchschmidt6788]

come to Australia most volunteer urban brigades would get less calls then that a month even a year or more

[@Medievalfan94]

Wait, so it isn't good that nothing bad happens? Where did we lost the logic?

[@RyanMiller3039]

Headlines at the bottom say, "Man dies after blowing up condom machine." 0:20.

[@Marco-ip5cw]

RyanMiller3039 lol

[@user-oi5rp5ts5p]

omg lmfao

[@AbsiAndrew]

Ya it's funny but rip to the guy.

[@cplpetergriffin1583]

0:16 actually

[@RyanMiller3039]

Loves Freedomfries my apologies. Nobody else would have found it if it wasn't for your comment.

[@code3wnc944]

It's better to have the stations so it gets a higher ISO class rating so they can get more money for the city

[@MoneyAndPeople]

totally not how i read the title... i thought it was just really petty fire fighters "nah that's totally like not a fire, we want bigger better, not this call me in 2"

[@cory3100]

MoneyAndPeople Lmao, so did I.

[@samuelseidel6148]

The title was clickbait

[@chrismcalister6553]

Complain about call volume until it is them calling…. 1 time or 1000 times a month, you can’t put a price on public safety…

[@s0nnyburnett]

What do these residents want them to do? Go light some fires? If you're looking for wasted money emergency services is the last place to come stick your nose.

[@NeilLB7]

??? What do they want? 5 houses a day to burn in that area? You'd not have any homes left. You have what you have and you base your protection level on the population. If you have 0 fires that year....it was a good year.

[@MattNOV1509]

A FD near me has 4-5 calls a year. We have around 25 a year. So shut up...

[@MattNOV1509]

Okay, if I‘m honest, this year we even had 36 calls. We‘ve never had so many calls in a year before

[@patriot5.56]

MattNOV1509 where do you live at?

[@MattNOV1509]

Cameron Crawford Austria

[@Gamerboy-gy1rl]

MattNOV1509 that not normal in U.S.A that why there talking

[@vaquiz804]

In Richmond va we get at least 5,000 calls a year

[@thenussbaum44]

Its like insurance. do you cancel it if you don't use it. No you don't.

[@sebby324]

Lol America is messed up for that to hit the news I’m from the U.K. and the last time my local fire station had to respond to a call was 9 years ago Maybe that’s because I live in the country side

[@backnforth8401]

the old people had nothing to do so they snooped a firestation for a number of emergency calls

[@SporkPlays212]

Have you tried starting a fire?

[@griffinkline2912]

Im srry but thats how it goes in the fire dept world volly or full time yes there are times with out calls but we can train when theres a lull in calls

[@fsnvret]

That's more time in the lounge chair and more time to test out recipes in the the kitchen. Sounds good to me.

[@fredfrederickson]

Tf is a condom machine?

[@jackiechan_wtf4041]

Fred Frederickson In Restrooms at gas stations, there are vending machine that dispense condoms for $1.

[@OOOHBILLY]

Lmao, it's the city of Johnson City NOT the city of Johnson. Op is dumb. Went to ETSU there...

[@Grayarea321]

Just schedule emergencies for one day per week......

[@joesmoe2599]

Jeez my town only has about 1,400 people and we have three departments.

[@miranda4284]

People after watching this video: oh ok I’ll just go start a fire

[@RangerjimGaming]

welcome to the volunteer life

[@grandwaha]

It's a volunteer staff station. What is it worth to you when you really need it and that's the closest one minutes matter tremendously there's never such thing as too much Manpower if you got it don't get rid of it. Why are people complaining about low call volume that's fantastic that means good fire prevention an excellent driving skills in the area

[@lifeofbrandon_]

Americans... complain others come in and take all the jobs yet complain about less stupid things happening therefore trying to take away jobs over a little tax.

[@crispyspa]

Sarvices?

[@SocialistDistancing]

Those people don't look like they're not hurting for money. You don't want to pay for that fire station until your house is on fire or you're in a medical emergency. Then your tune will change. I live a block away from a fire station. Sometimes they don't roll for days. Maybe even a week. Then other days it's 5 times that they are on a run. Not my first time living next to a fire station. Three different occasions. I like it being there. Stop whining. Everyone should be so lucky to have your problems. Clearly a first world problem.

[@mackie252007]

Nobody wants to pay till they need them!

[@chrisbiscuit5366]

Those 2 old farts....they should worry about which cemetery

[@alexpackham4896]

You should be happy that they have not been needed. It means your in a better place

[@calebrodrigues23]

Sorry, what? I was too busy reading the weird stories below.

[@luketownley9523]

Why is this even news we probably get one call out every two weeks we don't call the media 🙄

[@bobbelsekwol]

Don't be so short sighted on fire calls. I haven't claimed on my insurance for 15 years yet, I still have it, just in case shit happens. Keep it open for Christ sakes. We've shut down loads in my country and people are dying because of it.

[@1957mrbill]

You might as well get rid of fire extinguishers and sprinklers since they hardly get used as well. The first major fire without that station will have people crying the blues!

[@turtlejerks8396]

Imagine the need to convince that a fire station is necessary

[@rickpennington2335]

Fire Departments should all be volunteer, 100%. EMS SHOULD BE ALL VOLUNTEER OR PRIVATE SECTOR.

[@chazman4461]

Sure, lets try that.

[@aaronmichael7116]

Ya it's not really that unheard of. Maybe not 25 days but 5 days can be the average. You don't get paid for what you do, u get paid for wat u might have to do !

[@williamsimmons152]

Seriously...? Low call volume is great !

[@qasw287]

$100 for trash can fires $1, 000 for car fires $25,000 for house fires Hmu gray 🔥😂

[@krb96]

this is news station dedicated strictly to complaining without searching through facts?

[@bohunt9596]

I think it is great if they didn't get a call. That means that the people in their district were safe!

[@ahnbra]

My thought on how to fix this fire station issue. I would go to a non staffed model or paid on call better know as volunteer. That way there are still fire fighter that will use the station and the fire rigs in it. They just would not be there 24 hours a day. They could also go to a less then 24 hour staffed station like only staff it 12 hours a day. There are other options also. I hope that city and county made the best choice for every ones (life) safety.

[@ronhattner2512]

Or how about turing that place into one full time person the rest poc

[@johnhill8905]

Spend a shift at 9's in LA City Fire, you'll love a dead fire house after that tour.

[@Teme531]

Well... our avarage call amount per year is 50

[@jaysmith1408]

We have you beat by 152 already, and It’s only October 18th, our first due district is about four square miles.

[@Teme531]

@@jaysmith1408 our primary area is quite sparsly populated. Its about 7km north to south and maybe 10km east to west. Most of our calls are bigger calls that are not in our primary area.

[@outdooradventures1361]

Easy Money Baby

[@hngbones]

Just pay the extra money... Fire departments are an insurance. You don't want us Until you need us... Other times you waive your cost chopping blades at us...

[@justinjohnson9318]

People like this kill me I'm from a small town where are fire department doesn't respond to maybe one or two calls a week it's not how many calls you get it's about saving lives and protecting property that's it you know these people that are grape in about it when their house Goes Up in Flames or something worse and then they don't have a quick response time guess who they're going to blame leave the volunteer fire department alone better yet leave all fire departments alone cuz you know what one day you might need them just think about that

[@katilynboyd3894]

Make it volunteer

[@ryanb6679]

So wait till your house is up in flames and I don't think all those pictures that you can't replace and all the memories in that house I think your going to want that station to be open