KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Mornings around Merchant Drive are rarely quiet. Pete Hayes, a captain for the Knoxville Fire Department, has been at the station for several years. He's come to expect calls in the early hours.
It doesn't prevent him from trying to cook breakfast anyway. Hayes started to make pancakes from scratch on May 15. He stirred up the batter, but then the lights started flashing.
"Motor vehicle crash with injury," blurted out from the speakers.
Squad 14 was requested on the scene. Breakfast would have to wait.
"A 24-hour shift at this station is always unpredictable. You can always make plans of how the day is gonna go. But it's never gonna go that way," Hayes said.
Hayes rushed to put on his firefighter gear. He hopped in the passenger seat of the fire engine. The team of three turned on the sirens and headed toward the crash. They're used to the quick response. In 2022, Station 14 ran 3,000 calls. Hayes said it fluctuates between being the second and third busiest station in the city.
The call volume has increased over the years — especially as Merchant Drive has become more prone to criminal activity, drug use and a growing homeless population.
"Merchant's has gotten busier and busier," Hayes said.
Additionally, the motels off the interstate temporarily house a transient population. Due to the increased volume, most of the time, KFD is the first agency on the scene. Sometimes, they're the only agency that responds — even for medical calls.
KFD responds to calls for chest pains, respiratory distress, general sickness, wellness checks, cuts, overdoses and other kinds of issues. Overdoses are some of the most common calls of the bunch.
"The homelessness has increased and drug overdoses have increased in this area. And housing, in general, has increased," Hayes said.
The fire station is located just a block off Merchant Drive. It's also about a block away from an encampment for unsheltered people, which houses dozens of people. It's situated on a private lot in the wood. Since it's not public property, the city cannot ask them to leave.
People walk past the fire station every day to go into the camp. Hayes said they've had people overdose in the camp, and someone will run over to KFD to call for help. The Merchant Drive area is the second location with the most calls for overdose and Narcan distribution.
Hayes said responding to overdoses is a routine part of their day. Sometimes, the firefighters meet people who they think they can help move their life in a different direction.
"I tell them that there's help out there — that they can get help and that the road that they're on is not going to get any better," he said.
And sometimes, people aren't interested in getting help at the time. Hayes said it can be discouraging.
"Our main job is to keep people alive and prevent them from dying," he said.
With the call volume going up and up, Hayes doesn't think one fire station in the Merchant Drive area is sustainable.
"We're gonna need another station over here sooner or later because we're just getting too busy to run it all," he said.
If a second station was planted, then Station 14 would be able to eat their breakfast.