The Smithville Fire Department held its annual Firefighters Banquet last Tuesday evening, honoring some of the top firefighters for the year 2023. The banquet, which had been postponed from the previous week due to snow, was held at Ace’s Steakhouse, Seafood, and Italian Restaurant in Smithville.

After a great meal, Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker named Smithville Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale as this year’s recipient of the “Robert Eller Highest Attendance Award.” The award is named in honor of the late Robert Eller, who served the Smithville Fire Department as a member and assistant chief for 64 years until his death in 2009. This is Hale’s eighth time winning the award.

Chief Parker said that Hale responded to 161 incidents in 2023, the most of anyone during the year including trainings, incidents and events. Hale has been with the department for 39 years.

Captain Donnie Cantrell responded to 129 incidents, Captain Danny Poss responded to 109 incidents, and Captain John Poss responded to 109 incidents.

Rookie firefighter Dylan Goodman was awarded the Volunteer Training Award for having the most training hours for the year, at 188 hours. Chief Parker told the crowd that Goodman’s hours did not include attending EMT school to become a certified EMT basic.

Goodman is one of the department’s six rookie firefighters, including Daine Powell, Max Lahoda, Jayden Mitchell, Eric Gaw and Ryan Evans (career firefighter). Mitchell was given honorable mention for 133 hours of training.

“During their one-year period of time, they all completed their basic 64-hour class, a 20-hour LIVE Burn class, 16-hour Introduction class, and most of them completed Hazmat Awareness and Operations,” said Chief Parker.

Another training award was presented to Ryan Evans, a career firefighter, for his 210 hours of training during the year 2023. Other career firefighters earning honorable mention are Glenn Lattimore with 172 and Dalton Roberts with 123 hours.

The Smithville Fire Department consists of four full-time paid firefighters, including Chief Parker, Dalton Roberts, Glenn Lattimore and Ryan Evans, and 27 volunteer firefighters.

Years of service certificates were also presented during the banquet, recognizing each member for their time serving the department. Those recognized were:

Daine Powell – 1-year, Max Lahoda – 1-year, Jayden Mitchell – 1-year, Eric Gaw – 1-year, Ryan Evans – 1-year (career firefighter), Dylan Goodman – 1-year, Tyler Cantrell – 3-years, Mark Riggsbee (Auxiliary) – 3-years, Cole Wright – 3-years, Dakota Nokes – 4-years, Kayla Johnson (Auxiliary) – 5-years, Andrew Cooper – 5-years, Seth Wright – 8-years, Kim Johnson – 8-years, Dalton Roberts – 10-years (career firefighter), Bradley Johnson – 10-years, Shawn Jacobs (Auxiliary) – 11-years, Becky Atnip – 11-years, Cory Killian – 13-years, Glen Lattimore – 16-years (career firefighter), Stephanee Tramel – 18-years, James R. Hunt – 19-years, Gary Johnson – 19-years, William (Wink) Brown – 26-years, Greg Bess (Photographer) – 29-years, Captain John Poss – 33-years, Assistant Chief Jeff Wright – 38-years, Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale – 39-years, Captain Donnie Cantrell – 44-years, Captain Danny Poss – 44-years, and Chief Charlie Parker – 44-years (including 32 years as Chief) (career firefighter).

Chief Parker reported that the department had the highest number of incidents in its history this past year. “We had a total of 234 incidents, the highest number we have ever had. That tells us we are growing and hopefully we are providing good service.”

“I want to thank our training officer and Assistant Chief Jeff Wright. He offered 52 different training opportunities in 2023, including in-service and online classes, etc. and our firefighters logged in a combined total of 2,034 training hours and that’s also the largest number we have ever had. That’s almost 70 hours per person throughout the year. That shows the dedication of our firefighters,” said Chief Parker.

“This past year we had 19 firefighters complete incentive pay training offered by the state,” Parker continued. “These 19 firefighters put in at least 30 hours through this program; our most participation ever. Six firefighters are participating in a course through the Tennessee Commission on Firefighting Personnel Standards and Education to become certified as a professional firefighter in Tennessee.”

“I also want to thank the mayor and aldermen for voting to spend $115,000 to buy 25 multi-band portables for our department to move us forward in radio communication. I want to give special recognition to Alderman Beth Chandler for her work in helping us identify what we needed. We also plan to apply for a grant to fund mobile radios for our trucks in combination with the county and Alexandria Fire Departments and I was notified yesterday that we are receiving a Tennessee Fire Marshal’s Office grant for $32,500 with no local match to buy turnout gear,” said Chief Parker.