Knoxville Battalion Chief Justin Smith has officially retired after over 20 years of service to Knoxville Fire and EMS.

Battalion Chief Smith was a dedicated member and strong advocate for EMS in the Knoxville Fire Department and throughout all of Marion County. A ceremony was held Monday honoring Smith’s dedication to the community and Knoxville Fire Chief Cal Wyman is grateful for all that Smith contributed to the department.

“He was a huge advocate for EMS within our department and within Marion County. He was a large part of the Marion County EMS Association, especially the protocol committee that establishes how we operate and how EMS is handled in Marion County. He was a large part of getting that started and running and just our day to day EMS operations in our department.”

Smith will still help out the department on a part time basis, along with continuing to run the Crisis K9’s of the Midlands program.