• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
The Leader

The Leader

Tipton County's Newspaper since 1886

  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Business
    • Churches
    • Courts
    • Education
    • Election 2024
    • Events
    • Local Government
    • Local Politics
    • Military
    • Public Records
    • Public Safety
  • Sports
    • All
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Cross Country
    • Fishing
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Volleyball
    • Wrestling
  • E-Editions
  • Public Notices
  • Subscribe
  • About
  • Contact Us
    • Submit News
    • Advertise With Us
  • Where to Buy

Gilt Edge Volunteer Fire Department marks one year without missing a call

By Echo Day on October 21, 2019

Gilt Edge Firefighters
Gilt Edge Firefighters
Gilt Edge volunteer firefighters battle a recent blaze. Courtesy photo

Saturday was a banner day for the Gilt Edge Volunteer Fire Department.

Chief Brandon Fletcher said 4:06 p.m. marked an entire year since the department last missed a call for service.

“This has included not only our own district but also automatic and mutual aid to other departments throughout the county day or night,” he said.

It is a difficult feat for a volunteer department to manage.

“It’s virtually impossible,” said Tipton County Fire Chief Jon Piercey. “It’s a great thing, it’s a big deal.”

In addition to its four full-time departments in Atoka, Brighton, Covington and Munford, Tipton County has six volunteer departments to cover the rural areas of Charleston, Garland, Gilt Edge, Mason, Quito and Three Star.

“The full-time departments make all of their calls, that’s what they’re paid to do, but the other departments are staffed by volunteers,” Piercey said.

Prior to becoming the county’s fire chief in 2017, Piercey was a volunteer firefighter with Three Star for more than a quarter century and its chief for 15. He understands the demands and staffing in the rural communities.

“At Three Star, 99 percent of the staff works in Memphis so they’re not around and it’s hard for them to respond to calls. The way (Gilt Edge) is set up, it just works out that they can respond.”

Piercey wants to be clear calls for service are not going unanswered or missed altogether when volunteers are not ready.

“The fire department is set up to respond in support of an ambulance, for instance, so ambulances will still show up and paid firefighters will as well, but the response time will be longer.”

In 2018, Gilt Edge missed just 2 percent of its calls compared to 17.6 percent missed by Three Star, 19.6 percent missed by Charleston, 54 percent missed by Quito-Drummonds, 54.2 percent missed by Garland and 58 percent missed by Mason.

During the first three quarters of this year the response times by volunteer departments have mostly increased.

In addition to Gilt Edge not missing a single call, Three Star has only missed 6.8 percent of its calls, Mason is at 29.4 percent, Garland is down to 38.3 percent and Quito is at 40.8 percent. Charleston, however, has missed 27 percent of its calls.

Responding to every single call, Piercey reiterates, is “extremely hard” because staffing these areas with volunteers can be a challenge.

“The people who are there really want to be there. We need more of them.”

If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter, call Piercey at 901-476-2017.

Related Articles:

Chris David pulls 80-pound flathead catfish out of the Hatchie River After accident, a resident thanks Munford fire department for its help with burn victims Remembering Tipton County’s fallen servicemembers on Memorial Day Bass AvenueMatthew Bogenschneider arrested in Munford homicide

Posted Under: Public Safety Tags: Fire Protection, Fire Safety, Gilt Edge Fire Department, Volunteer fire departments

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search

Featured News

Former Covington, Munford basketball coach Tim Halford inducted into BCAT Hall of Fame

April 8, 2025 By Jeff Ireland

A man known in these … [Continue Reading...] about Former Covington, Munford basketball coach Tim Halford inducted into BCAT Hall of Fame

Brighton midfielder J Kiphut signs soccer scholarship with Dyersburg State

April 1, 2025 By Jeff Ireland

Brighton senior J … [Continue Reading...] about Brighton midfielder J Kiphut signs soccer scholarship with Dyersburg State

Brighton’s Pierce Meacham signs with Cumberland University

March 11, 2025 By Jeff Ireland

In this day and age, … [Continue Reading...] about Brighton’s Pierce Meacham signs with Cumberland University

Munford High School closed Thursday after teacher found deceased

March 6, 2025 By The Leader

Munford High School … [Continue Reading...] about Munford High School closed Thursday after teacher found deceased

Tags

auvic white black history braxton sharp brighton baseball brighton basketball brighton football brighton high school city of covington City of Munford coronavirus covid-19 covington Covington Baseball covington basketball Covington football covington high school Covington HS covington police covington police station Election 2020 events homicide J.R. Kirby Jalen Fayne Jamarion Dowell jeff huffman john edwards Jordan Bell JR Kirby Munford basketball munford football munford high school murder ronnie gorton sex crimes shooting Slade Calhoun tcso Tipton-Rosemark Academy Tipton County Museum tipton county schools tipton county sheriff's office town of atoka town of mason TRA basketball

Footer

The Leader is a weekly newspaper, published on Thursdays, serving Tipton County, Tenn. since 1886.

Contact us: news@covingtonleader.com

Editor’s Choice

Here’s how Home Depot and a team of volunteers helped make over CIAA

December 5, 2019 By Echo Day

Black History Month: Mason’s John W. Boyd went from slavery to the statehouse

February 7, 2020 By The Leader

Search

Copyright © 2025 · The Leader | Legacy Media · Log in