A fire department that did not exist four years ago is now seeking to add onto its building because of the amount of equipment and personnel it’s been able to accumulate.

Chief Evan Johnson with the Southern Brown County Volunteer Fire Department asked the Brown County Commissioners last week for permission to pursue a project that would add a bay to the fire station in Van Buren Township.

Johnson presented an annual report on the volunteer fire department that has been in existence since 2017. It moved into the fire station in 2018.

“The reason they’re here is Doug Payne came to my office last week and was telling me all of these wonderful things that were happening down there. I said, ‘Why don’t you bring some people and just kind of give us an annual update on what has happened since you’ve taken over that fire department down there?’” commissioner Diana Biddle said.

“Some really great, exciting things are happening, lots of community engagement.”

Southern Brown Fire has 33 volunteer firefighters in its roster, including 24 full-fledged firefighters and nine probationary firefighters. At least 10 of them came to the meeting.

The department began in 2017 when members met at either firefighter Doug Payne’s house or at Van Buren Township Trustee Vicki Payne’s home. Doug Payne is Vicki Payne’s son.

“We were having trainings in cornfields, wherever we could get. We were storing the two trucks we had in barns and anywhere we could fit a truck in,” Johnson said.

Van Buren Township had two fire departments for a short time. The Van Buren Township Volunteer Fire Department, in existence since the 1970s, was down to a handful of members when Southern Brown Fire formed with the support of the township advisory board.

In 2018, the Van Buren Township Volunteer Fire Department was dissolved in exchange for settlement money from the county. The agreement resulted in the unfreezing of Brown County’s grant eligibility at the state level.

Southern Brown Fire moved into the fire station that year with 13 people on its roster.

“We average now currently about six to 10 per run, which is almost the size of some departments in the county, unfortunately,” Johnson said.

“It’s gotten to the point where I’ve had to have meetings about parking issues on the scene. That’s a great problem. That’s a luxury no one else has, unfortunately, in this county.”

The volunteer department works closely with Van Buren Elementary School, which is directly across State Road 135 from the fire station.

“We never miss an event. We always help set up or tear down. We usually end up serving food. At the end of the year, we usually end up dousing all of the kids with the fire trucks at their last end-of-summer blast,” Johnson said.

“We have a fantastic relationship. The principal (Gavin Steele) down there is unbelievable.”

The department also tries to attend as many fire drills the school has as possible.

“We’re trying to work with Mr. Steele to get it to where we can run kind of our own drill with them,” Johnson said.

Johnson also said he department also has a great working relationship with Trustee Payne and the fire board.

“At times, Doug (Payne, assistant chief) and I feel terrible because everything we do, we always think of the taxpayer. They’re like, ‘Just buy the radios,’” Johnson said.

The department currently has three tanker trucks, one squad rescue truck, two fire engines and two brush trucks.

Johnson said there is a possibility another truck will be added to their inventory.

“Two of those trucks are owned by firefighters, so they respond from their house with their own fire trucks. The department didn’t put any money into those trucks, anything,” Johnson said.

The trucks are all older, but Johnson said they are serviced in-house. “We spend half of what we would spend on truck service elsewhere. We save the taxpayer a ton of money that way,” he said.

A wood-power boiler was also added to the fire station, which saves the department around $8,000 a year on gas bills. Firefighters get together twice a year to saw and split firewood.

“As guys go by the station, they pull in, they check the stove, they load it up or they let it roll, then move on,” Johnson said.

Firefighters have also poured their own concrete in the parking lot to meet requirements for the station to be a voting location.

“There’s such a level of skill, these guys can do just about anything,” Johnson said.

“We ran our own air lines, so we can keep the air brakes full on the trucks. We did that. We ran extra electrical. We did that so we could keep the trucks warmed up and always ready to go.”

The fire station currently has four bays. Johnson told the commissioners he needs another bay to put two trucks in. Since the commissioners own the fire station, Johnson needs to clear major projects at the station through them.

A tanker truck and a brush truck will be put in the new bay. The department recently received a 3,000-gallon tanker truck from Thorncreek Township Fire Department for $1.

“Our trustee, Vicki Payne, happened to run into somebody, told the fire department our story and they said, ‘Do you guys want a truck? We’ll give you one,’” Johnson said.

If the bay is added, allowing for two tankers to be stored at the department, Johnson said that would mean the department could roll out to respond to a fire scene with a total of 10,000 gallons of water.

“That’s not just for Van Buren Township, that’s 10,000 gallons to Nashville, that’s 10,000 gallons to Hamblen Township if they need it. We’re an asset to the entire community of Brown County, not just Van Buren Township because of mutual aid,” Johnson said.

Commissioners President Jerry Pittman, whose district includes Van Buren Township, thanked the department for their service.

“It’s amazing the turnaround in what’s happened in Van Buren Township over the last few years. We were just about out of any kind of fire department down there not too long ago,” he said.

“I’m glad to see that you all are working together. You’ve accumulated a sizeable group of great volunteers here. You’re the biggest manpower in the county now and that’s an amazing turnaround.”

Biddle asked the department to provide the bids and drawings for bay project. The new bay would be built on the north end of the station due to floodplain.

“Then we’ll sit down and figure out how to pay for it. I think between all of us, I think we can figure it out,” Biddle said.

Johnson said the department as a grant writer who is trying to secure grants to help cover the cost of the project.

“We just wanted to start this process. … We’ve got plans in the works. Mr. Ben Phillips (township board member) has already talked to an architect. We’ve gotten a rough estimate on about what it’s going to cost, but it’s rough,” Johnson said.

“We want to nail it down, then we’ll bring you something more involved and accurate.”

Commissioner Dave Anderson said Southern Brown Fire is “one of the good stories that has happened in Brown County.”

“It’s a success story. It’s really a good one,” he said.