10/11/2026
I want to make one thing clear: this message is not indicative of the situation here in Blount County. Our departments understand the struggles that come with limited manpower, and we work together through automatic aid and mutual aid to help ensure the calls get answered and our communities receive the help they need. At Rosa Fire Department, we are blessed to have great departments surrounding us, and even more blessed when we have the manpower and resources to lend a hand to our neighbors when they need us. That is what this profession is supposed to be about: cooperation, support and a shared commitment to serving others. Unfortunately, what we are seeing in some areas across the country appears to be a growing problem, with departments arguing over territory, questioning who should respond, and sometimes refusing to lend a hand when another department needs help. We cannot allow pride, politics, boundaries or the name on a truck to become more important than the people who depend on us. The person calling 911 doesn't care what patch is on our shoulder; they care that someone shows up. We are fortunate to have departments here that recognize the importance of working together, and we should never take that for granted. At the end of the day, we're all working toward the same goal, and when someone's life, home or family is on the line, working together should never be the exception. It should always be the standard.
**WHEN THE PAGER GOES OFF — PART THREE: IT'S NOT ABOUT THE PATCH, IT'S ABOUT THE PEOPLE**
At some point, we have to take a step back and ask ourselves a difficult question: Have we become so focused on protecting our own territory that we're losing sight of the very reason we got into this business in the first place?
Across this country, volunteer fire departments are struggling. We're struggling with manpower, funding, aging equipment, increasing call volumes, training demands and the challenge of finding people willing to give their time to serve their communities. These aren't secrets. We see it every day. We hear the conversations, we see the empty seats, and we know the challenges aren't going away on their own. Yet, in the middle of all these struggles, we sometimes find ourselves worrying about things that should never be more important than the mission itself.
The name on the truck. The boundary lines on a map. Whose first-due area it is. Who is supposed to answer the call. The patch on someone's shoulder. Which department gets credit for responding. Who is running the call and who is showing up to help. Somewhere along the way, we can become so concerned about these things that we forget the most important question of all: **Did someone get the help they needed?**
Think about that for a moment. When a family is standing in the front yard watching their home burn, do you think they're worried about which department's district they're standing in? When someone is trapped inside a wrecked vehicle on the side of the highway, are they concerned about which department's name is on the rescue truck? When a husband, wife, child or parent is struggling to breathe, do you think the family is looking at the patch on the responder's shoulder?
No. They want help. They need help. And they need someone to come.
They don't care who gets the credit. They don't care which department arrives first or whose name gets mentioned afterward. They care that somebody answered the call when their world suddenly fell apart.
And here's something we all need to think about: **What if nobody answered?**
What if that call was your mother? Your father? Your child? Your spouse? What if it was your neighbor, your best friend or somebody you've known your entire life? What if the person lying in that vehicle was someone you loved? What if the house burning was the home where your children were sleeping?
Would you care which department showed up? Or would you simply be grateful that somebody came?
That's the perspective we cannot afford to lose.
I understand that boundaries exist for a reason. I understand that departments have responsibilities, response areas, budgets, equipment, policies and established procedures. There are legitimate operational and administrative matters that must be addressed. This isn't about abandoning those responsibilities or creating confusion on the fireground. It's about understanding that boundaries should help organize the delivery of emergency services, not become barriers that prevent us from working together. Mutual aid, automatic aid, shared training and coordinated responses should be tools that make us stronger, not subjects that divide us.
If a neighboring department needs help and we're able to provide it, let's help. If another department has equipment, experience or personnel that can make a difference, let's find a way to work together. If one department is struggling to get enough people out the door, let's talk about how we can support them rather than criticize them. If we have knowledge that can help another department become safer and more effective, let's share it.
We don't have to wear the same patch to stand on the same side. We don't have to operate out of the same station to share the same mission. And we certainly don't have to agree on everything to recognize that we are all working toward the same goal: protecting the lives and property of the people who depend on us.
Sometimes, I think we need to spend less time worrying about who is going where and who is running which calls, and spend more time sitting down together. Literally. Let's break bread with one another. Let's get around a table, put the department politics aside for a while, and have honest conversations about what we're facing. Let's talk about manpower, recruitment, training, equipment, response times, funding and the future of the volunteer fire service. Let's get to know the people behind the patches instead of judging them by the name on their trucks.
We may discover that the department down the road is dealing with the same struggles we are. We may find out that the chief we rarely speak to is trying to solve the same problems. We may realize that the people we have viewed as competition are actually people who could become our strongest partners.
**We have more in common than we have separating us.**
But we also need to be honest about something else. We cannot expect volunteer fire departments to solve every problem by simply working harder, holding another fundraiser or asking the same handful of people to give even more of their time. There comes a point when the larger systemic issues must be addressed. Funding, recruitment, retention, training support, equipment needs and the long-term sustainability of rural emergency services require serious attention.
Our state and local leaders need to be active participants in these conversations. Not just when there is a tragedy, a campaign, a public meeting or a photograph to take. We need meaningful conversations about what it actually costs to provide reliable emergency services in our communities. We need to examine how departments are funded, how resources are distributed, how volunteer recruitment can be supported and how we can build a sustainable system for the future.
A fire department cannot operate on appreciation alone. Good intentions do not pay for radios, protective equipment, insurance, apparatus repairs or training. A volunteer's willingness to serve does not eliminate the need for resources. And a community's emergency response system should not depend indefinitely on a handful of exhausted people trying to hold everything together through sheer determination.
Our volunteers deserve better than being praised for doing more with less while the underlying problems remain unaddressed. Our communities deserve a system that recognizes the importance of emergency services before a crisis exposes the consequences of neglect.
This is not about pointing fingers at any one person, department or elected official. It's about recognizing that we have a shared responsibility to find solutions. Fire chiefs, firefighters, county and municipal leaders, state officials and the communities we serve all have a role to play. We need to bring those people to the same table, listen to one another and start having the difficult conversations that lead to meaningful change.
Because the truth is, we can argue over boundaries all day long, but those arguments won't put more firefighters on the truck. We can debate who should have responded, but that debate won't repair an aging rescue unit. We can spend hours discussing who received credit for a call, but none of that puts another radio in a firefighter's hand or another trained person at the station.
At some point, we have to decide what matters most.
Is it protecting our individual territories, or protecting the people who live in them? Is it being able to say, "That's our call," or being able to say, "We made sure someone answered"? Is it defending the name on the truck, or defending the reason that truck exists in the first place?
Imagine departments training together, sharing knowledge, coordinating resources, supporting one another's fundraisers and helping each other recruit new members. Imagine local leaders sitting down with fire chiefs to understand the challenges firsthand. Imagine communities recognizing that supporting emergency services means more than thanking firefighters after a difficult call. It means helping build a system that allows them to continue answering the next one.
We don't have to lose our individual identities to work toward a common purpose. We can be proud of our departments, our traditions, our histories and the patches we wear while still recognizing that none of those things is more important than human life.
At Rosa Fire Department, we know what it means to operate with limited resources. We know the value of a helping hand, the importance of mutual aid and the difference another department can make when you need assistance. We also know that when the call comes, there isn't time to waste worrying about pride or recognition. There is a job to do, and people are counting on us to do it.
So maybe it's time we quit asking, "Whose call is it?" and start asking, "What can we do to make sure someone gets there?"
Maybe it's time we quit worrying so much about the patch on the shoulder and start paying attention to the heart underneath it.
Maybe it's time we stop seeing neighboring departments as separate islands and start recognizing that we are all part of the same emergency response family.
Because when that pager goes off, the person needing help isn't looking for a particular department. They're looking for someone who cares enough to come.
**And one day, that someone might be answering a call for you.**
Let's protect the mission. Let's support the people doing the work. Let's demand meaningful solutions from the people responsible for helping sustain our emergency services. Let's sit down together, break bread, build relationships and remember why we started doing this in the first place.
The name on the truck matters. The patch on the shoulder matters. The boundaries and responsibilities matter. But none of them should ever matter more than the life we're trying to save.
**Different departments. Different patches. Different territories. One mission. One community. One calling.**
When the call comes, let's make sure somebody answers.
Because at the end of the day, it's not about who gets there, who gets the credit or whose name is on the truck.
**It's about the person waiting for help.**
Fire Chief Shane Hobson
