Unicoi Volunteer Fire & Rescue

06/18/2026

**NOTICE: Today has been a very busy day for us. If you have traveled I-26 on the north end today you have noticed paving prep has begun. Cones have been placed to single lane. Within an hour and a half, 4 motor vehicle accidents were dispatched, three of which were on I-26 in these areas. Please use caution and pay attention to the lane changes and traffic as it will be bottle necked for awhile during this paving project. With the bridge project on Unicoi Drive still taking place, alternate routes are difficult, so pay close attention to the driver in front of you and the construction workers as the lanes will be narrow during this time.

05/19/2026

Celebrate the life of Josh Bryant and join others in sharing memories, stories, and condolences.

05/15/2026

Tomorrow is the 23rd Annual Wayne Scott Strawberry Festival. We hope to see everyone come out and partake in the many festivities that the town has planned. This year, we have been granted a few opportunities to take in much needed donations to support our ongoing efforts to better serve our community. Our staff will be running the inflatables in the Kids Zone area. Proceeds from that will graciously go directly to our department. Along with that, as you make your way into Unicoi, we will stationed at the intersection of Unicoi Drive and the Highway 173 bridge near Maple Grove restaurant conducting a donation drive road block. The last 2 years, we have taken a significant reduction in municipal funding and we are doing our part to help recoup the difference. Please come out and support our department in both of these areas. Your donations and generous support will help cover ever-growing expenses and fund the needs of the department. We hope to see you tomorrow and enjoy the Strawberry Festival!

05/08/2026

What a fun and exciting day for these us and these little ones! They are always so excited and attentive! Thank you Unicoi Child Care Center for always allowing us the opportunity each year! We are always honored!

A big thank you to our Unicoi Volunteer Firefighters! You guys made our children's day and made learning fun. Thanks for your time and you guys have likely influenced this generation to become future firefighters.

04/23/2026

Over the last several days, there have been many structure and brush fires, as we had two just today along with responding early this morning helping on another structure fire. We see a lot of comments on different local social media pages wondering why so many different emergency vehicles are responding across the county when fires arise. Thats a good question. Many may not know that our department along with Limestone Cove Volunteer Fire Department and South Side Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad all respond as mutual aid with each other all across the county when the need for extra water, equipment or manpower is required, such as structure and large brush fires. You may even see the Town of Erwin respond outside the town on occasion, as they graciously offer mutual aid to all of us as well. With volunteerism at an all time low nationwide, we all rely on each other to get the job done. Just know that sometimes you may see another department respond to your call anywhere across the county. Many hands make light work and in our line of work, it takes every hand we can get to ensure you and your property are protected. We may have different department names on our apparatus when we show up, but we are all unified as one big family of firefighters willing to do whatever it takes to ensure your safety. If you are looking for a place to serve your community, message us and we will be glad to speak with you about volunteering.

04/13/2026

Thank You to all of Dispatchers for your hard work and sacrifice. You never get the recognition you deserve. Without you we would no be able to perform our daily duties or get to right location when an emergency situation happens. From all of us at Unicoi Fire and Rescue, A huge Thank Thank You!

04/10/2026

Ever wonder what your annual Fire Due donations go toward? Well, here is a fine example. After being without a working brush fire unit for nearly 2 years, we have finally replaced our out of service unit. We sourced a low mileage 2014 F450 chassis and modified it to fit the communities needs. Using department manpower, and existing parts and components we had, we were able to save thousands of dollars by doing all the work in-house. Due to a $30,000 loss of municipal funding last year and lower public donation over the last few years, its taken the last couple years to replace the old unit. With the current drought and extreme fire danger conditions, this unit couldn't have been placed in service at no better time. We want to say a special thanks to Shell Signs, Wraps and Graphics for the wrap and graphics. It turned out fantastic! Again, we appreciate the community for the continued support and if you haven't mailed in or dropped off your fire dues, please do that today!

03/20/2026

It was an honor tonight to have the young ladies and Troop leaders from the Southern Appalachian Troop 353 girl scouts greet us with their fantastic girl scout cookies. We had a special surprise for them tonight also. Looking and touching trucks are fun, but not as much as learning what some of the tasks are to do our job. These young ladies got hands-on experience tonight pulling out hose, spraying water from a charged hose line and how to refill the water tank from a hydrant. We try to make every opportunity to reinvest in our community to help encourage volunteerism to our next generation of youth. These young ladies are doing great things and we were honored to be apart of this!

03/12/2026

Its that time of the year again! Our annual Fire Due flyer should have hit everyone's mailboxes this week. Many have already dropped those off in our drop box or mailed them in. Your donations are a vital part of our annual budget that we solely rely on each and every year. We had to replace our 1999 model brush truck due to safety issues and being over weighted for the chassis. The newer 2014 model chassis we purchased to convert our old unit is in the process of being built in-house to help on overall expenses. Your donation will help us finish funding this project and numerous other needs we have this year so we can continue providing the highest level of services that we can. If you didnt receive a fire due flyer and want to donate, you can mail or drop that off at our station. That information is provided on the attached flyer. Historically, we only receive donations back from 16-18% of the 2500 flyers we send out each year. Please consider helping us financially so we can better serve you and your family. If we can assist you in any way, please feel free to reach out to us!

03/09/2026