DANDRIDGE, Tenn. (Story courtesy of WVLT) – A house fire Saturday night destroyed a home in Dandridge, prompting a response from nine fire departments across several counties.
The fire started on the porch Saturday evening and spread through the house quickly, according to neighbors. The homeowners are safe.
Parrottsville Fire Chief Jacob Henry estimated 30 to 35 firefighters responded to the scene.
Parrottsville Fire Department was among the nine departments that responded. Henry said the call went out to multiple departments because of the small number of volunteers at individual stations.
“You don’t know what you’re going to get during the day. You might get one person, you might not get anybody,” Henry said. “The first thing I do, if we get a working fire, I’ll go ahead and, if it’s in the middle of the week, I’ll go ahead and ask for two or three other departments because, between those two or three other departments, you might only get five more guys.”
Nearby departments have mutual aid agreements, but larger fires require broader assistance.
“We just kind of have a mutual respect agreement, like, ‘hey, we’ll send this if we ask for it’,” Henry said.
“It takes a lot of people to do everything because you ain’t just fighting the fire. You’re cleaning up and mopping up and packing everything up,” he said.
