Fire department got its start in 1972

Warren County is holding a special Bicentennial Volunteer Banquet at McMinnville Civic Center on Saturday, Sept. 29 to honor the county’s rural volunteer fire departments, community improvement clubs, the fair board and the Warren County Rescue Squad for the services they have provided to the community throughout the years.

The banquet was celebrated in the past, but has not been held recent years. County Executive John Pelham wanted to re-establish the event to honor these volunteer groups, particularly during the county’s bicentennial celebration.

‘We really appreciate what our volunteers do for us,’ Pelham said, ‘and the services they have provided down through the years. This is a chance for us to honor and recognize these volunteers and thank them for all the wonderful things they do for this community.’

Prior to and following this event, the Southern Standard will be publishing a series of articles highlighting these organizations and their members, along with information on their history and development.

Featured this week is the Collins River Fire Department. The information for this article was obtained and compiled by former County Commissioner Swanson Bennett with additional information from Nancy Rhea, the wife of current Collins River fire chief Tony Rhea and the daughter of one of the department’s founders and longtime fire chief, Avery Boyd.

In 1972 a new volunteer fire department was being established to serve a huge geographical area of the southern part of Warren County reaching from McMinnville city limits to the county lines of Van Buren, Sequatchie and Grundy counties. This is also the most mountainous portion of Warren County with much less population per square mile. However, these factors were not enough to discourage some very determined men when they decided that the Collins River Volunteer Fire Department was needed to serve the citizens in this portion of the county.

Some of the men, including Howard B. Walker, Hubert Boyd, Bill Baker, Avery Boyd, Herman Mitchell and Frank Mayfield made a decision to sign a bank note to finance their first fire truck. Also involved in the early years were Bobby Stubblefield, Marvin Byars and Andy Hillis.

Aubrey Boyd and Bill Crawford went to Pennsylvania and drove a used fire truck back to Warren County to become the Collins River Volunteer Fire Department’s first and only fire truck for some time. Bill Baker became the first fire chief for the newly organized Collins River VFD, and kept the fire truck at his service station until the fire hall was built on Highway 56 just south of Mt. Leo. The land for this fire hall was donated by Forest Nursery.

Because of the distance from Mt. Leo to Irving College, it soon became apparent that another truck was needed in Irving College. The P.M. Moffitt family donated a 99-year lease on some land near Irving College School for the purpose of building a Collins River VFD substation.

Working together, and with many donations from several citizens, this substation was built in the mid-1970s and more equipment was added. In the 1980s, Bill Baker became fire chief for McMinnville Fire Department and Dwight Woodlee became the new fire chief of the Collins River Volunteer Fire Department.

In 1988, a second substation was established atop Harrison Ferry Mountain and continued to be operated as a substation until 2001 when Harrison Ferry citizens reached an agreement with the Collins River VFD to relinquish this portion of their territory. This substation is now the Harrison Ferry VFD.

After serving approximately 20 years as fire chief, Dwight Woodlee gave up that position. Tony Rhea is now the Collins River fire chief and Jack Holland is the assistant chief.

Collins River VFD now has a very good fire hall at both its main station and at its substation in Irving College. They have a total of five good trucks, including a brush truck and a tanker truck.

They have approximately 25 trained fire fighters and several of these are first responders. They answer approximately 65 calls per year.

‘These people seem just as dedicated to their work as the courageous men who went to the bank to sign a note to buy their first fire truck,’ said Bennett. ‘As volunteers they receive no pay financially, but this group of volunteers seem to echo what one of their members said, ‘Our pay is the satisfaction of knowing that we are providing a very important service to our friends and neighbors.’