Check out some of the unsung City heroes on the front lines – Knoxville Police, Knoxville Fire, Public Service, Fleet Services, and the 3-1-1 Center for Service Innovation.



3-1-1 Customer Service Rep Connected People with Help: 'It Was Important to Me to Be Here'

For most of a week, Ryan Noles lived, breathed and was immersed in the snowstorm. He couldn’t get away from it. 

Not that he had any intention otherwise. 

To assure he could get to the 3-1-1 Center for Service Innovation to staff the phones, Noles stayed at a downtown hotel a few blocks away from the office.

When he wasn’t assisting people in need – calming them, reassuring them, connecting them to resources – he was sleeping, and waiting for his next shift.

“At least at the very beginning, a lot of information was coming out all at once,” says Noles, a 3-1-1 customer service representative for about 2 ½ years.

“It was important to me to be here when we opened at 7 a.m. People needed to have direct communication with the City, and to be able to get reliable information and help.”





Fleet Services Technicians Worked 24/7 to Keep City Plow & Salt Trucks on the Road 24/7

When the snow kept falling, and falling, and City salt and plow trucks were steadily rolling into the Heavy Shop, Eric Armstrong’s team was a little like a NASCAR pit crew.

Except that, instead of racecars, they were servicing the heavy-duty 30,000- to 60,000-pound Freightliners.

“It was a team effort, and a little bit of a mad dash at times,” says Armstrong, a second-shift Equipment Technician who’s been with the City for 1½ years. “There wasn’t much down time.

“The main goal – whether it’s a leaf truck or a salt truck – is always to get it back out there so it can do its job. 

“So during the storm, when you finally look outside, and there are no trucks in line – they’re all out on the streets, plowing and spreading salt – that’s a good feeling. It’s fulfilling.”





Public Service Snow Plow Driver: 'Team Effort - People Were Definitely Appreciative of Us'

Most of the time, Johnathan Reno mows right-of-ways and trims vegetation in the Public Service Department’s Service Area South.

But during last month’s longest-on-record all-hands-on-deck snowstorm, everyone in Public Service shifted to public-safety snow-removal duties. 

And thankfully, Reno is licensed to drive commercial vehicles – so he was out salting and plowing roads during the worst of the storm.

“Some of the guys, they say they’ve never seen anything like this storm,” says Reno, a 9-year Public Service employee. “It was really a team effort. Most of us worked around the clock, for over a week, salting and plowing the roads to get them cleared.

“It was very tiring. You work all day, all night, and you try to get a little rest.”

City Public Service Plowing Snowy Roads - Jan. 18, 2024

City Public Service Ice and Snow Update - Jan. 22, 2024

KFD Provided Life-saving Help During the Snowstorm: 'We Made a Difference'

Back streets too ice-covered for a fire truck to get through?

The Knoxville Fire Department's life-saving EMS crews are going to find a way to get to where they're needed.

During the mid-January 2024 snowstorm, KFD’s 4-wheel-drive Quick Response Vehicles were dispatched 462 times over 10 days to hard-to-reach car accident scenes and to treat medical emergencies.

"We were able to respond to every call that came in, and we made a difference," Paramedic Capt. Dustin Bull says. "We kept the fire trucks in the station and still provided a high level of service to the citizens of Knoxville."

Assistant Chief Mark Wilbanks says the Emergency Operations Center processed more than 1,200 calls for fire and EMS services.

"We never missed a call and provided service to the citizens in every instance," he says.





KPD Officer Delivers Groceries to Snowbound 90-Year-Old: 'I Love Taking Care of My Community'

If you're snowbound and in trouble, it's good to have a Knoxville police officer like John Morgan looking out for you.

"We got a call about a 90-year-old man in Colonial Village who was running low on supplies," says Morgan, a 23-year KPD veteran and Central District Community Partnership Officer. "So I got some milk, bread, peanut butter, frozen pizzas, those sorts of things he liked to eat. 

"His road was solid snow and ice. It was hard to get to. He was thankful and wanted to pay me, but I told him, 'Oh no, I got it taken care of.'

"My mom could have been in his situation. I love taking care of my community."