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In Touch with Tennessee
In Touch with Tennessee
A Career Built on Service, Teamwork and Sacrifice
Chief Freddie Montgomery of Clarksville Fire Rescue shares how watching his father battle blazes as a child shaped his future, including a poignant promise to "leave it better than you found it." MTAS consultants Donald Pinnell and Steve Cross reveal their unexpected paths into firefighting—one originally aiming for federal agency work, the other laid off from a chemical plant when a newspaper ad changed his life trajectory.
Some people say public service work is a calling. According to the Statista website, in 2023, around 19.5 million people were working for state and local governments across the US. Whether it's public works, parks and recreation, or police and fire departments, we all benefit from the work of public servants during our everyday lives. Hi and welcome to In Touch with Tennessee, a podcast of the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service Throughout 2025, on our social media platforms. On this podcast and in our quarterly magazine, we will be spotlighting public servants who work for IPS and those who benefit from our agency's services. Joining us today are MTAS Technical Consulting Program Manager Steve Cross, mtas Fire Management Consultant Donald Pinnell and Chief Freddie Montgomery with Clarksville Fire Rescue. Thank you all for being here today.
Speaker 2:Thanks for the opportunity.
Speaker 3:Yes, Susan, thank you for having us.
Speaker 4:Thank you Appreciate it.
Speaker 1:So can you all you know, just pick who wants to start. Tell us a little bit about yourselves and your careers, your background. We can go in alphabetical order if you want or you all can draw straws.
Speaker 3:Steve Montgomery, why don't you start it off?
Speaker 4:You're our guest. All right, so I'm originally from Hopkinsville, kentucky, now residing in Clarksville, about 24 minutes away, just over the state line. Born and raised there, did a little wrestling in high school, joined the Army, went out to California. That's where I met my wife. We've been together over 30 years now, two kids and four grandkids one on the way so, uh, family's growing all the time, um, I spent, uh I've been in the fire service uh, almost 31 years now.
Speaker 4:I spent the first 25 years in Hopkinsville, um, and they're um there moved up through the ranks the last five years. I was a fire chief and EMS director because we did fire EMS there. So we were we were all dual role, but that's the that's the gist of my career. I retired after 25 years in July of 2019 and started here in August of 2019. So I basically tell people I retired from there and started here the next day. See what it's like to go to a bigger department In Hopkinsville. We were dual role with fire and EMS, but we had four stations, about 100 people, advanced life support, we did convalescent care. We did it all in the second biggest county in the state of Kentucky. So it was a really progressive department, A lot of good things going on. There, had a lot of good friends that always wondered what would happen if I step out of the way and let them take over, and Clarksville was just a great opportunity, close by, to do that.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, well, and thank you for your service to our country as well. Thank you, steve or.
Speaker 2:Donald. Hey, steve, I can jump in here now because you know what? There's a lot of similarities in my background, as Chief Montgomery just shared. I grew up in rural Mississippi, just across the state line from Tennessee, here in a really, really small town, and you know Memphis was the big city that was close to us. And out of high school I went directly to the University of Mississippi and did four years there and graduated University of Mississippi and did four years there and graduated and I kind of thought that I wanted to do something with the federal government, one of the federal agencies like FBI or CIA or something like that. That's what intrigued me. But at the time that I graduated it was tough getting in those agencies. They weren't, they weren't hiring in large numbers at the time and I had a.
Speaker 2:I had a couple of uncles on the fire department here in Memphis and they said, oh, I knew of their work, history and their experience with the fire department. And they said, hey, you know, have you ever thought about this as an option? And at the very least, if you started here on the fire department, you may find that you like it, you may find that you like it a lot, but worst case. If you don't, you can work here while you're trying to figure out what it is that you want to do.
Speaker 2:And that turned into 27, almost 28 years with Memphis Fire Department Wow, and I loved it Really. I love that. I love that organization, and what they do is a tremendous blessing to me and my family for that matter. But a similarity is that when I retired from Memphis, the next day started working with UT, and this has proven to be another tremendous organization that I really love a lot. It's nothing but a blessing. And so here we are now about getting close to, say, three and a half years with UT's MTAS. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's great any other way.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's great. Well, susan, I share some of those same similarities. I grew up in a small town in Middle Tennessee, mount Pleasant, tennessee, and at the time everybody there worked at the chemical plant or somewhere else. My dad worked at the chemical plant there in town, made a good living for us, and when I graduated high school I followed in his footsteps. I went at the chemical plant there in town, made a good living for us, and when I graduated high school I followed in his footsteps.
Speaker 3:I went to the chemical plant and went to work, and after about six years of working there, things started winding down and actually my wife saw an ad in the newspaper. I was laid off. She saw an ad in the newspaper saying that the city of Columbia was hiring firefighters and I said you know, that's great, but I need a job that pays something to support us. And she said oh, it pays. It pays $1,050 a month, and so I thought that's a lot less than the chemical plant, but it's better than what I'm doing now.
Speaker 3:So I started my career right there, basically at Herb Prompting, and once I got started I couldn't look back. It wasn't like any other job I'd ever had in the past I never passed by a chemical plant and wondered if they had enough help. I never passed by anything else I'd ever done and wondered if they had enough help. I passed by anything else I'd ever done and wondered if there was enough help and every time I saw a fire apparatus going down the street or them working somewhere in the town I would take time to see if they had enough help, if I could do anything to help that crew at that time and that type of thing.
Speaker 3:So, like Donald, I did 28 years there just moving up through the ranks. Finally, the large majority of my time was as a second in command, deputy chief role, but then managed to be the chief for a little while and then I retired. I failed at retirement. I went to the state fire marshal's office here in Tennessee for four years, had a great opportunity there to help firefighters get certifications and help in their professional development. Then UT come open. I never dreamed of this, but I feel now, eight years into this, it's just been a godsend and you know I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve here.
Speaker 1:That's great. Well, I know all three of you spoken to this a little bit, but why did you decide to make it your career? I mean, you've stayed in roles for quite some time. What kept you there?
Speaker 2:Well, let's jump in there and let's say it wasn't the money. So you'll hear a lot of people say and it's not just fire department but a lot of public service sector jobs that you're not going to get rich, at least not financially. But I can tell you that what kept me in it not so much it didn't draw me as much because I was ignorant of these kind of things, but what kept me in it was just how rewarding it truly was to be able to help people, sometimes at their worst times, and not every situation was like that. Some of them it's not a lot, but just being able to be there and serve and to work with like-minded people was very, very rewarding.
Speaker 4:Yes, I do, I'll jump in there, you know. So the thing that drew me to the fire service was my childhood. I'm a second generation firefighter and I now have a son that's a firefighter in Georgetown, kentucky. So it was kind of in us Kentucky. So it's, it was kind of in us, I believe. So as a, as a child, I was pretty much raised in the fire house, you know, hung around the fire department. Even I got in trouble once as a kid.
Speaker 4:There was a fire in in my neighborhood and the truck come rolling by and it was fairly close, we could see the smoke. So we, as kids, I saw my dad on the back of a fire truck riding to that fire and we ran a couple of blocks to watch the fire and and it was a pretty good fire and you know, I knew my father was inside and they had, you know, like a small roof collapse in the back of the house or something like that, and there was some talk about, you know, somebody possibly being trapped. And I heard the guy standing by the truck you know he's my dad, I'm a junior, of course and he said well, if Fred's in there, he's going to come out. You know, come out smoking, you know, and a few minutes later my dad came out and, you know, and I got in trouble for watching the fire. It was a pretty hairy situation but you know, as a kid that was my memory going to the fire stations and jumping off the fire trucks. Of course they seemed like they were a hundred feet tall. Back then, you know playing, you know, with the pool table that was in the in the truck room. As I got older, you know playing, you know, with the pool table that was in the truck room.
Speaker 4:As I got older, you know, as a teenager, I joined the military on a delayed entry program and I joined it like my junior year and because back then it was just get as far away from home as you can and I wanted to see the world. And as I got out, as I actually went in the military, I figured I'd do 20 years, but my mom was here, um, and my sister had passed away, so there were things that were drawing me back home and I was talking to my father and I was getting out of the military, I was looking for, uh, what I was going to do and and of course there's a lot of factories back in Hopkinsville and you know my father, we had a conversation and he told me to consider the fire department. And you know I never did. I knew I grew up there as a kid and liked it All his buddies are like family, you know.
Speaker 4:But my father, at the age of 13 years old, he, he had gotten in some trouble and had to leave the fire service and was incarcerated. And in our conversation, you know he, he asked me to consider the fire department and I said, yeah, you know, I'll think about it when I get back home. And he told me he said, well, just promise me that you will leave it better than you found it. He's like I love that place more than anything and you know I just want our name to be in a good position on there. You know I don't want to feel like I embarrassed the fire department.
Speaker 4:So you know I started thinking about it and came home on leave and took the firefighter test, the fitness test that they had back then. Of course I was a young infantry soldier, so I blew it out of the water, so my name was on the radar and then they called me and I wasn't out of the Army yet. So I came back and tested again and ironically, I applied for the post office and the fire department at the same time and I got a phone call from both on the same day. Oh wow, and I decided to, you know, do my dad a favor and join the fire service. And the rest is history. But I did it. My father's love for the fire service, you know, caused me to make it a career.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 4:And now I love it just as much.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:I have a similar story. I've never been in the military but I really I was drew to the fire service out of necessity at the time being a pretty young family and everything and took the job mainly for just a way to support the family and immediately fell in love with everything about it and whether it's helping a brother or sister firefighter or whether it was helping somebody in the community or in another community, just fell in love with it and haven't looked back and still enjoy it today.
Speaker 1:Something I do want to ask about and, chief Montgomery, you mentioned it was like a family, you know, when you were younger and I have noticed, I have to say Steve and I sometimes are in the same meeting and if we have leftover lunches, steve says, well, I can take it and drop it by the local firehouse. So talk a little bit about the brotherhood, if you will, the camaraderie among firefighters.
Speaker 4:You know I think that's probably one of the biggest attractions or one of the things that keeps people at the fire department. I just feel like you know you spend a third of your life there, in most cases with those people, and I have. You know I've been to birthday parties for one year olds, you know, and don't have a kid, you know. You know you go to stuff like that and you start to be. You know, you become really tight with the people that you work with, especially on your shift for hours. You learn the ins and outs. You get in a few arguments along the way. You got some knuckleheads and you learn to air it out.
Speaker 4:Um, but the family aspect of it is uh, I mean it's pretty, it's a pretty big thing because not only those that work together. You know our wives become tight, our kids become, you know, family with each other and it's just one. I mean. You know our wives become tight, our kids become, you know, family with each other and it's just one. I mean you know we have 283 people here at Clarksville Fire Rescue, but our family is probably a couple thousand, you know, when you're out there in the city and see people, so it's very welcoming and it's, it's, it's a reporting, a rewarding part of the job, when you can come to work and be able to bond with people, because you know you're, you know you're counting on each other to bring you home the next day, you know.
Speaker 3:Right. I always tell folks, doing difficult things together brings you close, and as firefighters, even as fire administrators, we do difficult things together. We may be asked to sacrifice our life today with one of our brothers or sisters for the betterment of the community, and so I just think, when we do difficult things and learn to trust each other, we're like any other family. We have our arguments. We don't agree on everything, but I can talk about one of my family members you can't, it's just kind of the way I look at it of my family members, you can't, it's just kind of the way I look at it. So it's a family. We do difficult things together, we serve the community and we do a lot of the things we do.
Speaker 2:So you won't have to steven and chief montgomery both you know sum that up really well. But I would say that, going back to Chief Montgomery's statement of spending about a third of your life with those individuals, it's based on the type of shift you're working. It could be different somewhere else, but that's that's kind of the norm out there, is based on a three platoon system, and so somewhere along the way you're spending about a third of your time at work with the same individuals for the most part, and so, as Steve said, there's definitely the training and trust that builds because of the types of things you do. But I would also say there's the in those, the downtime and the amount of time that you're together. Those conversations that you have with those individuals get certainly deeper than surface level that you might in another type of setting or situation situation, and so you really you, as Chief Montgomery said, their families become people that you're concerned about, people that you know you might learn about them mostly through stories that you hear over and over and over, and by the time you hear the same story about five or six times, you've got it down about as good as the person who shared it with you. So you really feel like you know those people and then, in truth, you do get to know those people and it becomes an extended family.
Speaker 2:And since retiring from Memphis, I mean that's still to this day, some of my closest friends, some of the people that I'm going to call and share good news, bad news, whatever the case may be that that's some of the people that that you'll reach out to first, just because of the. It's more than a career the lives that you shared in doing those things you should do those things you should do Well, let me ask are fire?
Speaker 2:departments seeing the same decline in interests from potential employees as other areas of public service. Oh, absolutely, it's a challenge out there. I can give a little anecdotal situation. Anecdotal situation when, when I applied, I retired from memphis and when I applied to memphis, that application process began with a uh, an open session of about you would see three to four thousand people attend apply, beginning the application process for a cycle that would probably see maybe two or three hundred of those get hired. We don't see that anymore. There's certainly not a situation where two, three, 4,000 people are showing up applying for those positions. So that's in a big city department. On the flip side, in the small departments, those volunteer departments or those small rural departments, it's a struggle. They're competing with all of the other job sectors that are out there and competing with interest, and you know, unfortunately, that private sector pay that the public sector fire departments have to compete with and it definitely. I think there's just. There's all sorts of reasons, but they boil down to make it a really challenging time right now.
Speaker 1:Dave or Chief, are you agreeing with that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know, we see some of that as well, we're, you know, I think ours is kind of based on location. We're doing a hiring process now and for roughly about nine positions and have a little over 400 applicants, um, so we've got pretty good numbers, although those numbers used to be higher, uh, but we're, you know, three minutes away from uh, fort Campbell, one of the larger military installations that you know, soldiers get out every day, uh, and they're they're, you know they have some transition programs and I think that that helps our numbers. But you know, donald talked about just the competition with other sectors. You know other companies where you know we have, you know I hear people talk about retention and all that stuff, and you know we have those nine vacancies right now and none of them, you know four of them are retirement but none of them left to go to other departments. You know, so it's, it's really, you know, I think, especially since COVID, it really changed that.
Speaker 4:I mean, you, you can go to a restaurant and make more than a starting firefighter, especially here in the South. You know, and I think there's a push to try to change that, but it's going to be a slow process. But yeah, I do see some of the retention problems. I don't think we're bad as police or EMS. I think we have that luxury of, you know, working every third day or whatever your schedule is. It's not every day. You get some time off and I think that's also another factor that you know someone could come here and hone their skills on their days off or grow their business, and when it gets to where they're happy, they leave, and we'll probably see more of that than you know people leaving to go to another fire department for pay.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay.
Speaker 3:And I would tend to agree with both of them.
Speaker 3:And I know in my experience when I first applied for my very first position in the fire department, really the only requirement they had then was a GED or high school education and over the years and we had lots of people put in for that over the years almost all at least most departments have higher standards to apply or to be considered and so standards to apply or to be considered, and so you have to have a little skin in the game.
Speaker 3:Now for most departments in order for them to allow you to either apply or for them to consider you. You'll end up either having to go to some kind of fire school and get certified, or emergency medical technician or paramedic type school and get that licensure before you'd be eligible. Some of them hire you and then make you into all that, and some people don't want to do that. They just want to be a really good firefighter. So I think the profession has evolved and it's much more technical now, has evolved and it's much more technical now. It's much more. It's just provides much more service to the community than it used to back in the day.
Speaker 2:Susan, can I add to that? Sure, the three of us here, our backgrounds is relative to career departments primarily and if we look at that, if we take that question in the volunteer sector of fire services, it's really tough for them out there. So I would say, you know to listeners, if you see your firefighters, you know, take a minute and say thank you. I'm sure they'd appreciate that. But if they're volunteers, my goodness, please, please, take that time and say thank you, because the demands that are on just people in general in their lives now that they would give of that time to volunteer for their community, with just all of the things that are competing for the time that they have and you know, sometimes you have single parent homes and just people having to work two and three jobs to make ends meet volunteer for their community says so much for just how they feel about their community. And take a minute and recognize that, because that's definitely some shoes that are getting harder and harder to fill every day.
Speaker 1:Right Now. What would be the qualifications then if someone wanted to join their volunteer fire department? Are they all different depending on community?
Speaker 3:I'd say there's a lot of differences. Community or I'd say there's a lot of differences. If you want to volunteer in a fire department, there's many roles. I know I help my volunteer department here. I don't go in and fight fire anymore but I would, you know, assist with training or whatever type thing like that, with training or whatever type thing like that. So I mean there are other roles. We need people to do pre-incident planning. We need people to do, you know, community risk reduction, teaching, fire safety in the communities and things like that. There's a lot of other jobs besides being a line firefighter, besides being a line firefighter. Now there's plenty of those opportunities also. But there's lots of different roles. In Memphis and Clarksville and where I'm from, in Columbia, you know we had all those different roles that were paid. But see, the volunteer fire department still have those same needs, but they're normally volunteers. So school teachers and professionals out there, we could use you in any role and you know the response expectations from citizens is the same when they call and they need assistance.
Speaker 2:when they need help it's not a question of do they want a career firefighter or a volunteer firefighter. They want some help. They want somebody there that's trained and prepared and equipped to help with the situation that's at hand. And you know those volunteers are stepping up and filling those roles with all of those other things competing for their time.
Speaker 1:So the three of you had you know have had long, long careers in fire service.
Speaker 4:What would you say to someone who is thinking about a fire service as a career? I guess I'll jump in here and start that off. You know I would say do it for the right reasons. You know Donald touched on earlier you're not going to get rich in this profession. You know, just over the years, you know I've seen people enter it for a lot of different reasons. You know, grow their business and different things like that. But you, you got to be passionate about it. You know it is, uh, it's very demanding, uh, more technical now than than ever before.
Speaker 4:Um, we deal with a lot on and off the job. We have some things that even after our careers we carry with us, and the fire service has just evolved. So, you know, when we have our new recruits, we listen to an old video from Miami-Dade where the instructor says the T-safe. You know this stuff ain't for everybody. Where the instructor says the T-safe, you know this stuff ain't for everybody. And you know we've got to take just a few minutes in an interview and a few pieces to a testing process and try to find the perfect person for this profession. It doesn't always work. No chief is 100 percent on that but if you. If you do it for the right reasons, it's a very rewarding and a great career.
Speaker 4:You know I don't regret anything I've done in this career. You know I always tell people that. You know a couple of things that set me apart is I try not to ever get comfortable, because complacency can be bad in the fire service and you got to find ways to keep your fire lit and stay engaged and care about the fire service. You know, and I'm fortunate being a second generation with you know, I've got a son that's been in the fire service for about four years now and we talk fire, we talk fire. So I get to have those conversations that I, that I had when I was at my four year point about you know, what are you doing about this, what are you doing about that? So I don't want to be the dad that's chief on the other end, that has no idea what he's talking about. So it kind of keeps my fire lit. So you know just that advice is do it for the right reasons.
Speaker 4:You know pay is an issue. I think it will always be an issue. I think if I, you know, I definitely want to pay these guys more, but if I paid them, you know, $200,000 a year. They're going to work on their days off. And tell me, if I paid them more, they wouldn't have to work on their days off. So they're not going to get rich, you know. We want the best for them.
Speaker 1:They're not going to get rich.
Speaker 2:We want the best for them, but I want good, passionate people here that will give every citizen 100%. I had a chief early on that described it as a career that was built on service, teamwork and sacrifice. If you put those three things, if you look at those three things and really consider their career, I think that was a really, really good summary. You know it's definitely. It starts with being about serving other people and doing that through teamwork. You're not out there alone doing that. You're with a crew that trains together and lives together and prepares for these things.
Speaker 2:Because as a firefighter, your family is, you know, not necessarily willingly. They're coming along for that ride, they're in it too. And if you have to miss a Christmas because you have to work, you know that's going to impact them. If you have to miss birthdays, christmas, because you have to work, you know that's going to impact them. If you have to miss birthdays and other holidays and big events, but they know that and they understand and they know those reasons, both physical and emotional challenges. But you do gain that second family that sometimes bleeds right into your real family, your primary family, but it does. It gives you a chance to make a difference in your community, and I can't say enough about how rewarding that part of the job is.
Speaker 1:And I can't say enough about how rewarding.
Speaker 3:that part of the job is. I would echo again what Chief Montgomery and what Chief Pinnells talked about. This job is not. You know, go be a firefighter for the day as an observer, if you will, and you'll get an idea.
Speaker 3:Back in the mid-80s it's hard to say that sometimes we had folks that we hired or that they hired. I didn't have anything to do with hiring back then, but they'd get 5 o'clock in the afternoon and people were ready to go home and I thought and then when they couldn't, they just quit and I thought how did you get this far down this road and not know you're going to be here all night and you're going to be confined to a fire station and those type things. And I think nowadays we get out in the public more, we get to do more. Back then we were basically confined unless the bell rang. So now it's, it's even better, um. So I would again have people try it before you. You know, kick the tires.
Speaker 3:You know my family, uh, I it's become a family business a little bit, um, business a little bit. My wife and I we've been married 44 years older than most folks, but she's never been in the fire service, but she has contributed to it through me. We ended up with two daughters that we were blessed with. Both of them are in emergency services, one being a nurse manager type person and one being an EMA person. And guess what they brought home? A fire person and a law enforcement person. So each of their spouses are first responders, and if one of my three grandkids or all three of them decide to go into this line of work, I would not discourage it. It's great work, very rewarding, and just take care of yourself physically and mentally and you can make a long career and really serve those around you and even across the state or the region and make it a better place.
Speaker 1:Great Well, thank you all for joining us today. It's been great to hear about your careers and you know we appreciate all that you've all done to serve our communities.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having us, Susan.
Speaker 4:Yeah, thank you for the invitation. It's been great. Thank you very much and thank you listeners.
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