Meet the Official: LVFD Chief Marc Scott

Lifelong Marshall County resident Marc Scott is the Lebanon Volunteer Fire Chief and has lived in the Lebanon area since 2008. Scott and his wife Dawn have two children Clifford and Jayden,whoattendKingston Public Schools.

The Scotts have deep roots in Marshall County as his mom Carmen Scott has been here her entire life, as well. Scott said he hopes his son, Clifford, follows in his footsteps and encourages others to volunteer where they can.

The Madill Record was able to sit down with Chief Scott along with his son and daughter, for a short Q&A for the residents of Marshall County to get to know him.

Q: Tell the readers about yourself.

A: I’m local. I’m from Madill andtheArdmorearea.All of my family is from Marshall County. I’ve been in Lebanon since 2008. Been on the fire department since 2009.

Q: Tell readers about your family.

A: My wife Dawn, and I just hit our 16 year mark in April. I have two children, one of each. Marc Scott Jr, he goes by Clifford, he is 13 and Jayden Scott, she is 15 years old.

Q: Did you attend Madill Public Schools?

A: Early on in Madill, then Ardmore and Dickson.

Q: After high school, what did you do?

A: I worked for the lumber yard in Kingston for five years. Then a few odd jobs here and there and then I started at the steel plant in Madill in 2004. Then in 2014 I worked at a Ranch for a little while, doing whatever they needed done. It was an open ranch and I did equipment work and welding and stuff like that. Now I am at the steel plant in Durant, and I’ve been there for almost six years. I was a maintenance mechanic welder and now I just do whatever they need done.

Q: You said that your family is from Marshall County, are your parents from here?

A: Yep, my grandparents are from here. My mom graduated from Madill. Been here her whole life.

Q: How did you and your wife, Dawn, meet?

A:Wemetthroughmutual friends. We dated for a while and then we decided to finish it up and get married.

Q: What made you decide to volunteer here at the Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department?

A: The community. In fact this guy, right here. (as he motions to a newly framed photo of former volunteer Chief Terry Moore.) He passed away a couple of years ago and this picture was just given to me to hang up in here. We just added on to this room, just finished it up last year. He was the chief down here for 24 years. He would come by the house and hound me everyday. I finally gave in and they needed help. So fifteen years later I am still here.

Q: Had you had any prior interest in being in the fire department, if so what was it about it that made you interested?

A: Always. The fighting of the fires and the trucks. I’ve known firefighters my whole life and being around them makes me want to get into it.

Q: How important is it for people who live in the smaller communities like Lebanon to volunteer at their local fire department? What are the benefits to doing so?

A: It is very important, it is a dying breed. They need help. All of us need help. We take up your free time. You have got to want to do it. This ain’t something you can half do. You have to want to do it. You have got to care about people.

Q: Are you hoping that your kids will volunteer one day?

A: This one will. (Pointing to Clifford) She doesn’t want to. They have been around it their whole life. This has been their second home since they were born. They know the in’s and out’s of the trucks and the gear. This one here does training with us. He is known around the county as ‘In Training’. This is their second home.

Q: When you are not working and volunteering here what do you like to do in your spare time?

A: “What is that? What is spare time? We have got animalsandwetrytofish.We don’t have much time to do that. We do a lot of trapping. We do a lot of trapping during the winter time. There is not a lot of free time chasing them around with band and sports and everything. There is not much free time. I am here as much as I can be.

Q: The Lebanon Fire Department hosts a fundraising coyote hunt each year, tell us about that.

A: My first year as chief in 2012, I took it to the board to do it as a fundraiser and we have been doing it ever since. On average we have about 20 teams a year with up to four people on each team. It is a community event and the majority of the people are not local to Lebanon but from around the county and from around other parts of the state. They come down here to hunt. It is important for us to have a fundraiser and it is important to thin the coyotes. They are eating all of our turkeys and all of that stuff. So we need to keep those numbers down too.

Q:Howhappyareyouthat the bridge at Huanui Creek is done?

A: Very happy. That has been a pain for a year and a half to two years now. We have been waiting for it to open. It has been long overdue to have that thing open back up.

Q: Are there any other projects in this area of the county that need attention?

A: Water supply. To fill our firetrucks here at the station it takes me 45 minutes to fill our tankers. The water supply here in town is ridiculous. Due to outdated systems; the county is not updating anything. I have talked with them about it and I don’t know if it will ever get fixed.

Q: Is there anything that you would like to say to the residents of Marshall County?

A: We hit on it a while ago. Just join your fire department. Even if you just want to do medical we need help there too. The majority of our calls on all of us are medical all day. You would have to go through Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) Training, which we provide or give you access to. Then you can go from EMR to EMT or paramedic or whatever you want to do. We will help each person through that. We have a meeting here every Monday, unless it falls on a holiday. They don’t have to come to every meeting, we do one training a month. Whether we do that here in house or we go to another station. All of us need help.