Joshua Lowe receives Hutcherson Memorial Robertson County Times Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Joshua Lowe, a volunteer with the Adams Fire Department, received a new fire helmet courtesy of Vickie Newberry and the Lt. Brad Hutcherson Memorial Fund.
"Through volunteers, Brad Hutcherson's dream will be carried on," said Vickie Newberry who attended the Memorial Fire School held at Greenbrier Fire School last November.
The Lt. Brad Hutcherson Memorial Fire School was developed to provide training for area public safety members and other volunteers. The event also honored the memory of a young fireman and his passion for this profession.
"I had never seen what [these fire fighters] go through. I understand the passion Brad had for firefighting. It was an eyeopening day."
Brad Hutcherson was a 25-year-old firefighter with the White House Fire Department, Station 52. He was active with the Jr. Firefighter Program and had joined the fire department when he was 18. He was killed in an automobile accident in August 2008. His parents, Steve and Connie Hutcherson, and Brad's friends came up with the idea to honor him through a fire training school.
Newberry won the prize drawing at the Memorial Fire School for a new fire helmet. She knew that day she wanted to donate it to a young involved volunteer. Since Newberry was a native of Adams, she contacted Ray Brown, the fire chief of the Adams Fire Department.
"Josh is also a passionate young firefighter," Brown added. "We are proud Vickie Newberry came to our department to receive this recognition and bear this memorial in Brad's memory."
Brown indicated that firefighters have a special connection to each other and to public service. Newberry agreed and said she was amazed at the dedication to training and the individual efforts to be a firefighter. In addition to the equipment for Lowe, the Adams Fire Department received decals with Brad Hutcherson's fire number [5205] for their helmets to honor his memory.
Newberry added, "When I learned that Josh would be receiving the helmet, I was thrilled. I had Josh in school, know his family and felt a strong personal connection to this department." She related a story about her Dad, Joe Gainous, who lives in Adams. Mr. Gainous had a health flair-up and they called for an ambulance. While an ambulance was enroute, a truck pulled up to provide assistance if needed. Newberry later learned that assistance was Josh Lowe.
Lowe is the son of Denny and Cathy Lowe, and grew up around firefighters. His father and grandfather were professional firefighters and volunteer firemen in their community. Lowe stated that he was proud to be honoring Brad Hutcherson and having Brad being a part of their department. As Vickie Newberry handed the helmet to Joshua, she shared these words, "Stay safe. I'm proud of you and God bless."
Firefighter's dream of school didn't die with him By: Jim Bellis, Robertson County Times Staff writer | November 19, 2008
Lt. Brad Hutcherson White House Volunteer Fire Department member, died August 24, in a single vehicle crash just a couple of miles up the road from his fire station
Since that day, family and friends have been at work to preserve his memory by producing an event that was one of his personal desires.
"He had said it would be neat if we could have a training class where all the fire departments around could come together and learn to work with each other," said event organizer, Trey Nelms, Captain of the Pleasant View Volunteer Fire Department, and 14 year veteran of the Nashville Fire Department.
"During the middle of Brad's service it just sort of popped into my head, 'Hey, we ought to have a fire school here that can do several things. One, honor Brad, and two, raise some money for this fund that's been established in his name.'"
As a result, the Lt. Brad Hutcherson Memorial Fire School held its first yearly occurrence at the Greenbrier Middle School on Saturday. Attendance exceeded the enrollment as potential students simply showed up at the door in the morning along with those who were already registered for the event.
"We had a lot of people that hadn't enrolled in it, but just came up and said, 'Is there still room available?'" said Steve Hutcherson, WHVD member, and father of Brad.
Students were present from across Tennessee and as far away as Virginia, with one reportedly having flown down from New England. Due to the influx of unregistered enrollees, a final tally of students is still being totaled from class rosters.
Courses covered included decision-making by on-scene personnel to ensure that "everybody goes home," victim extraction from vehicles, adequate water supply in rural situations, strategy and tactics, flashover recognition and survival, and techniques when using self-contained breathing-apparatus.
Trey Nelms, a 14 year veteran of the Nashville Fire Department, and captain and training officer for the Pleasant View Volunteer Fire Department, helped to orchestrate the event.
He taught students potentially life-saving techniques when using air tank backpacks.
"How to extricate yourself from a 'bad spot,'" is how he described his class. One of the setups he utilized replicated loose wiring that a firefighter might have to negotiate during an incident.
"This is like if you get caught in a wire entanglement and you have to negotiate all those wires with all your protective equipment on," he said. "This [class] is all about just being familiar with your air bottle, conserving air, and getting through tight spots."
Along with Nelms, other instructors took charge of classes for the one-day event, with three flying in from Ohio in order to pass on their knowledge.
The day was considered a huge success by all participants.
"The instructors who had flown down here said that they'd been to a lot of schools and put on seminars," said Hutcherson, "and that in the short time we had to set this thing up that it was the best one that they had ever been to."
"They've already started working on next year's classes. They're talking about a two-day event. We've got so many now that want to come and teach that it may even turn into a three-day event. it may be separated such as part in, say, August, and part in October or something like that. Next year's class will hopefully involve law enforcement, EMS, and firefighters."
"I think that was his vision," said Nelms in reference to Hutcherson. "It's funny how it all just came together. It's sad that it came together because of his passing, but it's pretty neat to see it."