Nathan Straus Photo Brownsboro Volunteer Firefighters are proud of their shiny, new and effective fire engine. The new machine will save many lives over the course of its lifetime. It was a sort of historic day for Brownsboro Volunteer Fire Department, as well as four other Henderson County fire departments. On Saturday, November 8, Brownsboro, Athens, LaRue, North 19 and Malakoff fire departments gathered in Athens to train together and strengthen as a brotherhood.

Rusty Quattlebaum, BVFD's assistant chief, said the new fire chief in Athens, having moved to the area from Arlington, realized how different the resources available to him are in Henderson County.

"He realized pretty quickly he was going to need the volunteer fire departments' help, and we were going to need Athens' help," Quattlebaum said of the larger scale emergencies.

Through talks with various area fire chiefs, a goal was made to have training sessions once every quarter to get all the departments on the same page. For example, safety is enhanced when each department uses the same terminology.

The departments went through four scenarios Saturday to better train them to work together as part of a large team. One was a singlestory house fire, the breadand butter fire of a fire department. No "victims" were inside, though there were dif- fering conditions regarding smoke, heat and structural integrity to consider.

On the next exercise, a "victim " was added to the training program. The third exercise featured a three-story apartment complex, while the fourth was set in an industrial warehouse.

"We had to use different tactics in each one," Quattlebaum said.

The training was designed to see what everyone's capabilities were and to see how each department could be best used.

In all, around 50 firefighters showed to the Saturday training day, with about 12 of these coming from BVFD.

"It was phenomenal," Quattlebaum said, "a very big success. I'm looking forward to doing it again."

He added Saturday's hard work started a tradition that would continue to strengthen the county's fire protection power.

"Saturday itself was a big step in the right direction," he said.

In addition to being itself a step forward, the event was also historic because it was the first time in memory, Quattlebaum said, that the area departments have come together to train.

"It was a great learning experience, " the assistant chief noted. "I applaud the Athens fire chief for making it happen; being able to watch and evaluate, it showed our strengths and weaknesses."

The fire chiefs will meet again in a few weeks to go over the departments' perfor- mances and will use this time to improve each other. This information will go a long way toward making plans for the next training session.

Another new development for the Brownsboro Volunteer Fire Department rolled into town in September: a brand new fire truck.

"We now have a very reliable piece of equipment to fight a building fire," Quattlebaum said. "It's also one piece of the puzzle for lowering Brownsboro's ISO rating."

This would in turn lower home owners' insurance rating.

Also, all the guys down at the station love the powerful engine.

Rusty Quattlebaum also noted Brownsboro VFD is trying to recruit more volunteers. Anyone is welcome," he said. "We can find a place for anybody who wants to serve a community of almost 10,000."

He added, of the 20 or so volunteers currently with BVFD, 18 of them are available only a third of the time.

"We need a larger pool to draw from," he said.

The department offers inhouse training; the only cost is time. Those wanting more infor. mation can call 903-852-5001.