The Customer

Incorporated in 1961, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, is home to singer Dolly Parton's theme park, Dollywood, and Island of Pigeon Forge amusement park. It is also a neighbor to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the United States, according to NPS visitor data from 2023. Though the permanent population hovers around 6,300 residents in just over 12 square miles, the city welcomes more than 14 million visitors each year.  

Along with the town's popularity, many of Pigeon Forge's city services have grown exponentially over the years, and the Pigeon Forge Fire Department is no different. What was once a volunteer-only service is now a robust department with two stations, 46 full-time employees, and many more part-time employees and volunteers. 

The fire department's Chief, Tony Watson, was already working in fire and emergency services before he moved to Pigeon Forge around 1990 and joined their department as a volunteer. Seventeen years later, he became the first paid chief of the Pigeon Forge Fire Department. The business of firefighting runs in Watson's family. His father was one of the first paid firefighters in the nearby town of Gatlinburg, and Watson's son is also in the family trade.  

"We're growing daily," says Chief Watson of the Pigeon Forge Fire Department. The fire department's services go far beyond just responding to fires. "We are an all-hazards stop for everything to do with fire and emergency services," he says, including fire and medical response, paramedics, wildfires and all types of rescues. Last year, the department responded to about 3,300 calls. June, July and October are the busiest call volume months due to tourism. 

“We are aggressive with our services, and we are aggressive with the technology we use as well," Watson says. With the backing of the Pigeon Forge city council and city management, Watson and his team consider technology as an important tool. They believe in experimenting with and implementing new technologies to help the department stay accountable, improve efficiency, and keep staff safe. The fire department prides itself on keeping up with the latest technologies that could potentially help them do their jobs.  

Early on, dash cams were a technology recognized by the Pigeon Forge Fire Department for their positive potential. Watson says it was years ago when one of their firefighters brought in some older technology cameras to capture evidence from their vehicles. “We saw that there was value, but it was inefficient. Every time we needed evidence, something went wrong, and we couldn't get it out," Watson says.  

The potential of dash camera technology in their vehicles was further highlighted when Chief Watson received a complaint about one of the department's vehicles running a car off the road during an emergency response. Luckily, the incident occurred at a major intersection with two gas stations. After digging, the department was able to obtain video from the gas stations to investigate the team's response and eventually disprove the story. However, the investigation took a lot of time and effort. Watson became even more determined to implement a tool that could help keep the firefighting team and the public safe and support much easier and more reliable incident investigations.  

Pigeon Forge Fire Department conducted a lengthy evaluation period of dash cam technologies to see which vendors and systems could meet its needs. "We didn't want these to be punitive in nature. The two biggest reasons for us are accountability and training," Watson says. "We want to get our firefighters back home and safe. Everybody makes mistakes and this allows us to evaluate those and learn from them. It's that simple." 

After weighing cost-effectiveness and potential ROI, Watson says the fire department decided that i-PRO’s WV-VC35 Front Cameras would best meet their needs. Currently, the department has approximately 24 i-PRO wide-angle cameras on their fire engines, trucks and other department vehicles. The cameras deliver a high-resolution 86-degree field of view capturing a detailed image of what is happening in front of each vehicle.  

The initial installation was challenging, according to Watson. The amount of electronic equipment on their fire trucks required knowledgeable technicians to get everything to work properly. "Wiring on these trucks is different and installation teams have to be flexible and knowledgeable because there is a lot of other stuff on there we don't want to break," Watson says.  

To ensure ease of use, the i-PRO Front Cameras were set to record when emergency lights are activated. The larger vehicles in the fire department’s fleet have secondary drives in the i-PRO video processing units (VPUs) which are constantly recording in the background. This allows them to catch footage leading up to and after an emergency event. The cameras are also set up to automatically start uploading their captured video once the vehicle has connected back to the station’s WiFi. The department stores its video locally and uses the 
i-PRO video management system along with a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system to handle video investigations, tagging and cross-referencing footage by vehicle number.  

The Benefits 

Since the i-PRO dash cams have been up and running, Watson and his team have already seen a big impact. Pigeon Forge is working to implement live streaming to further enhance operational intelligence. In a recent cabin fire, video was crucial in helping the team determine the response necessary for the incident based on the plumes of smoke and flames captured on the dash cams. 

The team reviews each significant call after the fact for training purposes. “We are able to get a wider view of the scene and gain more information,” Watson says. He adds that the technology helps his team stay accountable and expands the department’s training opportunities to keep its firefighters safer and serve the community even better.  

Looking to the Future 

The Pigeon Forge Fire Department is already looking at ways to leverage technology even further. "We have it in our budget to get body cams next," Watson says. The department plans to use the technology as an additional way to keep the team accountable and give them actionable intelligence. Watson says they also plan to use AI sensors to help with intelligence on wildfires and house fires.

“I’m a student of the game, and I like to learn everything that’s out there. The goal is to prevent loss of life, and technology is a first step,” Watson says. “I want to be a leader in the fire service, and that’s how we position ourselves.”

Related Products