January 24, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Smithville Volunteer Firefighter and Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale received the “Robert Eller Highest Attendance Award” Tuesday night during an appreciation dinner for city firefighters at Ace’s Steakhouse, Seafood, and Italian Restaurant downtown.
The award was presented to Hale by Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker. Hale earned this award 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. Hale has won this award eight times since it was established.
Deputy Chief Hale, 39-year veteran of the department, responded to 161 incidents in 2023, the most of anyone during the year including trainings, incidents, and events. Others receiving honorable mention were veteran city firefighters Captain Donnie Cantrell with 129 incidents, Captain Danny Poss with 109 incidents, and Captain John Poss with 109 incidents.
Dylan Goodman, one of the department’s six rookie firefighters, received a Volunteer Training Award for logging the most training hours during 2023 at 188 hours. Chief Parker said Goodman dedicated himself to firefighter training while also attending EMT school to become a certified EMT basic. His 188 hours of training does not count the extra hours of classes and practicals for him to complete his basic EMT license. City volunteer firefighter Jayden Mitchell earned honorable mention for 133 hours of training.
Another training award was presented to a strictly career city firefighter and Ryan Evans received the honor having put in 210 hours of training during the year 2023. Other career city firefighters earning honorable mention are Glenn Lattimore with 172 and Dalton Roberts with 123 hours.
Chief Parker singled out six new firefighters who joined the department in 2023 including Daine Powell, Max Lahoda, Jayden Mitchell, Eric Gaw, Ryan Evans (career firefighter), and Dylan Goodman.
“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.
The Smithville Fire Department is made up of four career (full time paid firefighters) including Chief Charlie Parker, Dalton Roberts, Glenn Lattimore, and Ryan Evans along with 27 volunteers.
Members of the department recognized and presented certificates for their years of service are as follows:
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 highlighted several fire department achievements during the year.
“This year we had a total of 234 incidents, the highest number we have ever had. That tells us we (city) are growing and hopefully we (city firefighters) 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. 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.