Since 1969, the Soddy-Daisy community has been fortunate to have a group of dedicated individuals who serve the citizens in all types of emergencies. The Soddy-Daisy Volunteer Fire Department has been a major part of the success of the City of Soddy-Daisy due to the solid foundation that was built by the members in the "early days".
With the commitment of these few individuals they set the standard for future generations of Soddy-Daisy fire fighters to follow. We have been very fortunate to maintain a group of trained volunteers that have a genuine concern for life and property.
The expectations of the membership remain high and the standards have never been lowered. The members of the Soddy-Daisy Fire Department continue to provide valuable services to the community through their volunteer work and will for many years to come.
This brochure contains a few of the reflections as told by Jerry H. Smith. Jerry was one of the original members of the department, serving in most all capacities from fireman up to and including Chief of the department. Jerry remains a vital part of its continued success. There are many stories that have been told but not documented. Here are a few that were.
Prepared by: Allen Branum, President
Soddy-Daisy Fire Fighters Association
In the Beginning!
The Soddy-Daisy Fire Department came into existence soon after the city was incorporated in June of 1969. It was originally staffed by the North Hamilton County Rescue Squad. Although they were two separate organizations it was hard to separate them from the inception of the fire department, it was mostly the same people operated both organizations but responded with different equipment. The rescue trucks were parked at the old "Daisy DX" Station (now a restaurant next to Daisy Church of God). During the day, calls would come from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department Dispatcher (usually to the pay phone at the gas station) and the attendant on duty would start a "call out", and at night a call was made to a members home and the same procedure would be used for contacting persons by phone. A Plectron Alerting System was soon put in service to alert members by radio as Soddy-Daisy established a police and fire dispatcher.
There was not a fire engine until early in 1970 when a small 1952 Ford with a midship 500 g.p.m. pump was borrowed from Fort Oglethorpe Ga. Fire Department, which at the time was one of the best-equipped departments in the area.
Wayne Daniel was the chief the rescue squad so he became the first Fire Chief for Soddy-Daisy. Bill Wright was first assistant and Roger McGarity was the second assistant.
Sometime around late 1971 and early 1972, the trend lead toward more separation of the two organizations and some members became members of one or the other, but most remained a member of both.
The first Fire Call
The first fire call answered with a fire engine was around May of 1970. Jerry Smith was the new driver and like many other times, was hanging around the service station (there was no where else to go) when the Hamilton County Dispatcher called and advised of a house fire on Poplar Street. Chief Daniel could not leave because the company gas tanker was delivering fuel to the station so he sent Jerry Smith and another fireman. When they arrived they found that it was a false alarm and it was a good thing that it was because Jerry had no training on the engine and could not have gotten water out of the nozzle if there had been a fire. (God just takes care of us sometimes).
The Ahrens Fox and the Tanker
After the city incorporated, they began searching for a fire engine to purchase. Sometime June or early July of 1970 a 1950 Ahrens Fox 4-door cab with a Hercules 6 cylinder engine with hose and some equipment was purchased from George Spencer for $10,000.00. The drivers and officers went to Chattanooga Fire hall #1 for instruction and briefing on the use of the pumper and how to drive this big apparatus. She was named "Beulah".
The Ahrens Fox only carried 300 gallons of water and the city had very few working fire hydrants so a water tanker had to be found. A 1955 or 56 Chevrolet truck was purchased with a 2000-gallon tank and it was our new tanker. It had previously been used as a Gulf fuel tanker and according to stories, had been wrecked before and it caused it to run out of line. Looking back, that tanker was a dangerous piece of equipment. The tanker had an 11 horsepower Briggs & Stratton gas powered pump with 250-gpm capacity and fought a lot of fires and was the subject of a lot of interesting stories for several years. That tanker was replaced with a brand new one around 1978.
Out of business
To be so old and mismatched for the job, these two pieces of equipment worked well for some time. Once a brush fire was reported off of Hixson Pike just off of Highway 27 at the lake and the call was answered with Jerry Smith driving the Ahrens Fox and Don Brandon driving the tanker. The tanker blew its engine going down Soddy Hill and the Ahrens got hopelessly stuck in the soft field. For a time the Soddy-Daisy Fire Department was out of business. The chief was mad about the incident and Joe Pickett brought a large bulldozer to pull the stuck engine out of the field. Back in business!!! (for now).
Another time that is hard to forget is when the crowd at one of the parades wanted the tanker to hurry and catch Beulah because she was smoking so badly. The old engine had gone as far as it could and had to be helped back in by the old tanker. The original tanker crew, Jim Wilson and George Smith were very proud to have gotten to pull Beulah back in and boasted that that tanker was faster and better even with 2000 gallons of water.
New Fire hall
(#1)
The fire trucks were moved into the new fire station at Card Rd. and Dayton Pike sometime in June of 1970. It was a fine building and the only thing that the fire department had that was new. Many members spent a lot of Saturday nights playing cards or just shooting the bull at the new fire Station. The Rescue trucks remained at the Daisy DX service station.
Fire Fighters and Rescue Personnel
From the beginning, it was not mandatory for a person to be a member of the Fire Department and the Rescue Squad but most were. If you were not, you missed a large number of the most interesting calls. It seems that there were many more wrecks and out of city fires back then than there are now. The Rescue Squad served all of North Hamilton County and this allowed us to answer the out of city calls, but not with the city fire equipment. We have had some hard feelings in the fire department over the fact that we would be set up to fight an out of city fire and the chief officer would not allow it when he got on the scene.
Beulah gets a new diesel engine
In early 1972, the city changed the engine in Beulah. They took the old smoking Hercules 6 cylinder out and replaced it with a new Cummings 250 diesel. This gave new life to an old wagon. Shortly after, we answered a call off of Layne Road in subfreezing weather to a house fire. We did a good job saving the structure and evidence of arson was detected. The Hamilton County Arson investigator was called and it took a while for him to get there so the chief gave the order to shut down the engine to save fuel and it was done. Some time later, we got the order to return to the fire hall and climbed into the cab of Beulah and tried to start the engine without success. It would not hit a lick. The chief summoned a can of starting fluid, which would cause it to hit but not start. The tanker was called back to the scene to pull us off but this turned out bad too. We made the decision to pull Beulah through a yard to a nearby street and the tanker sunk down to the axel. The water was then drained to lighten the load and naturally only added to the problem. First were stuck in soft dirt and now we were stuck in icy mud. Finally, we called a wrecker and backed Beulah all the way down the lane to Layne Road. If we had only known that there was a manual valve to turn the fuel on all this trouble would be averted, but then we would not have this experience to talk about.
The first new fire engine
Late in 1972, the city took delivery of a new bright yellow Pierce 1000 gpm Ford Fire Engine. This had to be the most beautiful thing on the road at the time. It did more for the attitude and morale of the firemen than a shot in the arm. It also brought some new firemen to the department. Everyone wanted to be a driver. This engine is still in service today.
"Oh Lordy" no brakes!
While responding to a house fire Jimmy Wilson and George Smith were in the tanker and as they went down Soddy Hill the brakes gave out. Jimmy tried the emergency brake. George asked "what is that smell?" Jimmy replied that that was "our last resort!" The emergency brake burned out immediately. The old tanker (and its crew) is nearly out of control. Faster and faster, Jimmy then notified the dispatcher (Who was Jean Wilson, Jimmy's wife) that the tanker may be late and she promptly told him to "Park that thing and get out of it now"! Jimmy and George would like to have been able to do that about now. Being the skilled driver that Jimmy was, he made the curve at the bottom of the hill and completed his mission with a little more care.
Oops! Sitting on the transmit button.
T.V.A. let the Soddy-Daisy Fire Department have an old 1952 Ford 4x4 pumper around 1972. It was named "Little Red". It was extremely slow and had very little power for street use. On one particular call two of the firemen (which will remained un-named) were responding to a large brush fire n the north end of the city. The dispatcher called them on the radio just after leaving #1 fire hall. (The only fire hall at the time) and reported that the fire was getting dangerously close to a house. After the fireman had acknowledged the radio traffic, he laid the microphone in the seat and the transmit button was pressed without the knowledge of the firemen on board.
Everyone that had a radio for miles around was able to hear the extremely fowl language that was being used about the old slow truck. The two occupants are forever embarrassed about the situation.
All day roast
Late in 1970 we had a large house to catch fire on Swafford Road. The outside temperature was 14 degrees. It was an old house that had several additions over the years. The fire department had no self-contained breathing apparatus at the time so we could not go insid to extinguish the fire. Beulah was broke down and we were answering calls with the old tanker. We fought the fire with small hand lines for a while to no avail. Eventually, the order was to the dispatcher to call the Hixson Pike Fire Department for assistance. They were located on Hixson Pike @ Delashmitt Road before the city of Chattanooga annexed the area.) Thy arrived just as we were running out of water in the tanker. The fire was under control now so we thought that Hixson would have no trouble finishing the blaze while we went to fill up the tanker. While filling the tanker, I looked over the trees toward the old house and all I could see was black smoke. We half filled the tanker and hurried back to the scene. The house was fully involved again and no water was being pumped on the fire. It seems that the fireman that had come to fight our fire did not know haw to operate a fire engine. I guess we were like Minnie Pearl's hometown fire department that day. The old house would have normally burned down by noon but we kept it burning all day.
Phone company explosion
The worst prepared that the Soddy-Daisy Fire Department has ever been (in my opinion) was the night that the telephone exchange was bombed and burned. Firemen are summoned by radio, which at the time were carried to the transmitter by phone lines. After the explosion there was no way to call out the department. Only a few volunteers that happened to be hanging around the fire hall responded to the scene after a motorist passing by came to the hall to report the fire. When the fire department arrived the order was given to lay a 2 1/2" line to a hydrant that was at the site of the old pottery. Two firemen and a neighbor carried the hose to the hydrant only to find the top of the hydrant had been damaged beyond use with a sledgehammer. No water, the tanker was down again, but the fire eventually burned itself out. After that, we learned that robbers had held up the Red Food Store while the police and fire departments were busy burning down the phone exchange.
She just won't set still
Before we had the new fire hydrants installed, we depended on the old tanker for water. Much more than we do now. Once we had a fire near Bean Street in Daisy. We had used one tanker of water and sent Jim Wilson, George Smith and David Loftis to refill. Jim parked the old tanker just off of Highway 27 (now Dayton Pike) heading sown the hill on Bean Street. He put the truck in low gear and set the parking brake. George hooked the hose to the hydrant and David connected it to the inlet to the tanker. Jim crawled up on top so he could tell when the tank was full. As the tank filled and the weight increased on the chassis, the old rig started to move down the hill. David ran toward the driver seat from the rear, Jim moved from the top of the tank toward the cab and George just stood there in horror. Just as David passed the end of the large ladder that was carried on the driver's side of the tank, Jim grabbed the topside. This caused the ladder to shift and fall hitting David square on the top of his head. The blow knocked him down but there was no permanent damage that we could tell. Jim dove behind the steering wheel and stopped its progress.
Fire during the Christmas Dinner!
Christmas has always been a big time at the Soddy-Daisy Fire Department and 1972 was no exception. We had a big supper with all the trimmings; the Mayor and all of the Commissioners were there. About the time that the feast was being blessed, the phone rang and it was to report a house fire on Card Rd. just around the curve from the fire hall. It was a chimney fire and the firemen dutifully dawned their fire equipment and climbed on the tailboard of the engine and answered the call. The Mayor and one Commissioner went in the Mayors car. When we arrived on the scene, fire could be seen coming from the chimney and sparks were landing on the roof. Firemen quickly obtained a ladder from the engine and with a hand line, climbed onto the roof. The fire was quickly brought under but water had run down around the chimney and had covered the roof where firemen George Smith and Jesse Goins were standing. This would not normally be a problem but this being around Christmas, the temperature was hovering around 20 degrees and the water was freezing beneath their feet and as the two started down, the ice made itself known. Jesse Grabbed George and George grabbed the chimney. The Mayor was watching the action and called for help for the two. Other firemen along with the mayor quickly secured a roof ladder with hooks on one end and hung it over the peak of the roof allowing Jesse and George to climb down safely. Another valuable lesson was learned, this is what roof ladders are for.
