Jackson County Central Fire Department
DEPARTMENT HISTORY
The Jackson County Central Fire Department was formed in 1989 as a group community effort to establish a centralized department mainly for support and to aid the counties current community fire departments. When established in 1989, the department was given a small initial response area, mainly surrounding the city limits of Gainesboro, to being fundraising and responding. Land was leased from the Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation to the department on N. Grundy Quarles Hwy to build the first fire station where our Station 1 is still located today.
Once our fire station was built, we were able to acquire the departments first fire apparatus. Engine 309 (Pictured to the Left) was a 1963 GMC / Hahn pumper that was donated by a Fire Department located in Connecticut and shipped to our department. Tanker 409 (Pictured to the Left below 309) was a 1970 Chevrolet converted fuel tanker that was purchased by the Jackson County Fire Chiefs Fire Council to be used as a county wide tanker for water support on incidents.
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Initially when our department was started, we began as a support only department with no set incident district or response area. Over time, our department was able to incorporate an area located around our station for our initial response area, cutting down on response times for other departments.
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In 1997 the department shut down operations due to unable to financially support itself. The department remained closed until 1999 when a group of previous members, with the assistance of the County Mayor at the time, came in and re-opened the department.
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In 2001, all fire departments and the Jackson County Rescue Squad each received a State of TN CDBG grant which our department was able to purchase a 1980 E-One pumper/tanker combo to replace both our current apparatus.