This month's Service Spotlight is on one of the Knoxville Fire Department's rising stars.

Assistant Chief of Training Scott Calloway joined KFD in 1996, four years after graduating from the University of Tennessee with a degree in economics and political science. 

Scott was promoted to captain in 2005 and worked at Station 12 in West Knoxville before his promotion to Assistant Chief of Training in January 2021.

Training is a year-round pursuit for Scott and his team. New recruits receive basic training -- the foundation skills they’ll rely on every day. And firefighters of all levels receive specialty training to keep their skills “current and sharp.” 

When asked what is the most challenging task of Chief of training, Calloway answered, "I am now responsible for 327 individuals' training, where I was once only responsible for myself."

Early in his career as a firefighter, the spring of 1997, Scott was among the firefighters who responded to a house fire on Tillman Road. Scott was the first to enter the blaze and extricated a woman and two children. The woman was pronounced dead and the children later died from their injuries in the hospital. Scott was given the Firefighter of the Year award at a ceremony held the following year. 

He attributes his actions that day to the quality of training he received and the team that surrounded him.

“Everybody on the scene has their specific role to play,” he says. “That’s the only way to accomplish things, on the team, together.”