Chief Charlie Cole
Chief Cole is the 7th Fire Chief in the history of the Gatlinburg Fire Department. Chief Cole joined the fire service in 1987 as a volunteer and worked his way through the ranks of the Department prior to being named Chief in 2018. Chief Cole holds a Fire Science Degree from Columbia Southern University.

Chief Cole joined the Gatlinburg Fire Department as a volunteer in February of 1987. Throughout his 36-year career with the Gatlinburg Fire Department, he has served as Fire Suppression Officer, Emergency Medical Services Coordinator, Assistant Fire Chief, Training Officer, Hazardous Materials Technician, Swift Water Technician, and Incident Commander. He is certified by the state of Tennessee as a first responder/EMT instructor, state Commission on firefighting instructor I and Officer II, basic life support instructor, and advanced life support instructor by the American Heart Association.

Chief Cole earned recognition with the Gatlinburg Fire Department for leading personnel on several major incidents, representing the department at public relations events, presenting current fire prevention programs at area schools, creating fire truck equipment review checklists, ambulance checklist and preparing specifications for new equipment, ambulance, and fire truck purchases.

The Gatlinburg Fire Department has three shifts that are on duty for 24 hours and off for 48 hours.

A Shift Officers
Captain: Chris Heckman
Lieutenant:
Training Officer: Craig Anders

B Shift Officers
Captain: Josh Smith
Lieutenant: Andrew Quilliams
Training Officer: Amanda Perryman

C Shift Officers
Captain: Steve Ebb
Lieutenant: David Wear
Training Officer: John Bridges