Nashville Fire Chief guest speaker of Nashville Rotary Club

Wednesday, Nashville Fire Marshall and Fire Chief, Justin Thornton was the guest speaker.at the Nashville Rotary Club meeting. Thronton is also the president of the Howard County Fire Chiefs Association.

Thornton reported the department has been working on lower the city’s ISO rating for the past several years and they are currently in one of the final stages. He said the department is currently testing the city’s 500 fire hydrants to check the flow rate of each one.

The City of Nashville’s current ISO rating is 5 and Thornton hopes to lower the rating to a 3 but most likely a 4.

Thornton said the Nashville Fire Department is a ‘pay for call’ department and currently has 22 members. He said they need three more fire fighters to be fully staffed. He stated the department has not been fully staffed since 2019.

Thornton also updated the Rotarians on the emergency radio upgrades. He stated the county is replacing the 911 dispatch system to help pinpoint cell phone callers. Thornton said the complete transition from analog radios to digital may take some time due to cost. He said there are about 200 radios that will need to be upgraded throughout the county. 

Thornton said the main reason Howard County needs to upgrade its communication system is because they currently cannot communicate with departments from the surrounding counties.