Fire & Rescue Department is Flourishing

In the last few years, the Nolensville Fire Department has upgraded its preventative services by offering a higher level of public education, adding several licensed inspectors, and performing life safety inspections around town. With the new fire station being constructed, the department is working on essentials and additional facilities. 

“We are also working on several grants from various sources to aid in funding needed equipment and protective gear to outfit our new members and apparatus,” said Matthew Lupo, who has been serving the town as Assistant Fire Chief since March 2021. 

Started as an all-volunteer department, Nolensville Fire & Rescue is now a combination department striving to be more self-reliant. 

“Our services are expanding, and we are training our people to be leaders in the field and to be capable of handling ourselves when we reach the next level and are closer to where we need to be,” Lupo said. 

“We are a new career department, and though we can handle most of our calls for service, we are shorthanded when it comes to major incidents or building fires. With only five career staff on duty, so we rely on volunteers and mutual aid to meet the 17 necessary positions on a fire scene.” 

The department also performs home safety inspections and education, smoke detector installations, home sprinkler system checks and education, home key box installation, child safety seat installation and inspections, CPR and first aid training, school visits for fire safety and education, and reviews for fire safety in new developments and buildings. 

Fire Marshal is motivated by the town’s citizens, who appreciate the department and its services. The team members often receive thank you cards, hand-drawn letters, food, etc., from the locals. 

“In a business where we see the worst, it is amazing and good for our mental well-being to receive that appreciation and know that what we do matters, and this town takes that to the extreme,” Lupo said. “I have a passion for making the community that I serve a more resilient place for people to live, grow up, shop, and play.”

Social media has been a bridge between the public and the department. The fire department’s social media handles are very active, and Lupo regularly interacts with locals through them. The department continually strives to improve and grow the services they offer to the public.

“Our crews train daily. They exercise, and they do any number of tasks and projects that we have to perform on a regular basis, all during their regular 48-hour shift (or the regular business hours for us in administration),” he said. “To the business owners that have been introduced to life safety inspections, we are not out there trying to make things difficult for you, but we are trying to make the town a safer place and avoid mistakes that have happened in the past. We desire to be a proactive public safety provider and not strictly a response agency.”