Fire Departments announce partnership

Leaders say new automatic aid agreement will improve public safety in Brentwood, Franklin

BrentWord News Reports
BRENTWOOD -- The Brentwood and Franklin Fire Departments have entered into an automatic aid agreement that leaders of both say will improve the safety of residents.
As of July 1, both Brentwood and Franklin units respond to structure fires in the automatic aid coverage area, which includes southern Brentwood and northern Franklin.
The agreement will primarily benefit homes and businesses served by Brentwood Fire Station 3 on General George Patton Drive., such as The Heritage retirement community and Ravenwood High School, and homes and businesses served by Franklin Fire Station 3 on Mallory Station Road, such as The Landings apartment complex, the Cool Springs Galleria Mall and the Marriott.
Brentwood and Franklin have traditionally provided mutual aid to each other upon request, but only after units have arrived on scene and determined that additional resources were needed. Under the new agreement, units will be dispatched simultaneously.
“Our dispatchers can access Brentwood’s radio frequency at the same time they dispatch our units, and Brentwood can dispatch Franklin,” Franklin Fire Chief Rocky Garzarek said.
“Our goal is to reduce response times and ultimately improve safety in both cities,” Brentwood Fire Chief Kenny Lane said. “In a fire, every second counts, you may have as little as two or three minutes to escape. Any way that we can reduce response times will provide additional protection for our citizens and firefighters.”
“Responding jointly will leave more units available in each city when there’s a major incident,” Lane added. “It’s a win-win situation.”
Because of the cities’ shared boundary lines and station locations, Garzarek said the partnership makes sense because a Brentwood fire station may be closer to some Franklin addresses, and vice versa.
“Franklin Firefighters have to drive past a Brentwood Fire Station to get to The Landings apartments. Now, dispatchers will notify that Brentwood station automatically and they could potentially arrive on scene first when there is a fire.”