Family, farming and firefighting. Ethan Reed Tompkins and his life today revolve around all three. Long before he was born on Sept. 11, 1998, his life was going to be one of either farming or firefighting – or both. It’s both. Russell and Crystal’s oldest boy could not escape the family’s DNA passed, along with an embedded work ethic.

Ethan Tompkins

Today, Ethan, 26, is the foreman of the fourth-generation Tompkins Family Farm in Fentress County in the little community of Armathwaite, Tennessee. It is, Ethan says, in the middle of nowhere. “There’s not even a stoplight.”

He also is in his sixth year as a firefighter for the Knoxville Fire Department (KFD) at Station 18 at 610 N. Weisgarber Road. His life is busy. He’s also in paramedic school at Roane State Community College and plans to graduate in May 2025.

Now, about this DNA thing. “My great grandpaw started the family farm and my grandfather and my dad kept it going and now I’m the fourth generation of the family to run the farm,” he says. “It’s a chicken farm and we produce 500,000 chickens a year in four chicken houses.” Each house is 40 feet wide and 400 feet long. They also have a few Angus cows and cut hay to feed them.

His father, now 55, recently retired after 32 years as the chief of the Armathwaite Volunteer Fire Department. “I grew up being around the fire trucks with Dad. I can remember being either 7 or 8 and Dad waking me up in middle of the night to go on a call with him, my first time for that. A house was on fire and we had to get to the station and drive to house. I sat in the engine watching them fight the fire. I knew then I was going to make firefighting my life.”

The family commitment to the family business is serious business. Ethan’s mother, Crystal, runs the business/financial side of the farm. But that’s just one of her jobs. Her fulltime job away from the farm is with the Eye Centers of Tennessee. She is its community outreach coordinator, visiting assisted living centers, nursing homes, health fairs and other events focused on seniors in 16 counties. “I clean their glasses and adjust them,” Tompkins says. “But more than that, I simply spend some time with them. You want to put a smile on their face — they may not have had a visitor in days. When you can spend time with them, even for a few minutes, it makes them feel better.”

She’s also known as “The Bingo Queen” in calling the games and playing bingo with her seniors. “She loves her job too,” her son says. “We all love our jobs.”

A big piece of Ethan’s busy life is spent in his fire-engine red 2014 Chevy Silverado, driving back and forth from his apartment here and Station 18 to his own house that sits on the farm. It’s about a 90-minute drive each way. He’s put around 152,000 miles on the truck. Is he single or married? “I’m single. I’m so busy with life right now … the farm, paramedic school, my KFD job. I don’t have time for that now. But one day I plan on having a family.”

In 2017, he graduated from the Alvin C. York Agriculture Institute, a public high school in Jamestown named in honor of the World War I hero. He was the lieutenant colonel and battalion commander of the school’s prestigious Junior Army ROTC program. In his junior and senior years, he also was president of the school’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter. Not surprising, considering that Tompkins at age 7 learned to drive the farm’s 484 Case International tractor before he could even ride a bicycle.

During high school he volunteered for the Fentress County Volunteer Fire Department and when he’s home he continues to run calls with them. While at the York Institute he worked for Micro Metals in Jamestown for his last two school years and two years after school. Somewhere he found time to earn an associate degree in fire science from Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin.

In 2019 an uncle, Steve Hamby, the emergency response coordinator for the Knox County Health Department, stepped in and recommended Ethan apply to the KFD. Hamby knows KFD Deputy Chief Gary Compton and Ethan spoke with him and applied for a position. He was hired and began at the training academy on July 20, 2020, where he met then Capt. Lonnie Glenn, now a battalion chief working out of Station 18. Station 18 has been Ethan’s home since joining the department.

Tompkins is a senior firefighter on the Red shift led by Capt. Chris McReynolds that includes master firefighter A.J. Spoone and firefighter Nicholas Brann. Tompkins has another title too. He’s the “head chef” on shift and easily the best in the kitchen. His special dishes include chicken, shrimp and steak Hibachi, biscuits and gravy for breakfast and his favorite dish – meatloaf and homemade mashed potatoes. “My most important job of the day is always being sure Capt. McReynolds gets fed,” he added.

He says he loves the “simple life” – being outside farming, riding his quarter horse Boots, hunting deer and turkey, and golf when he can with his Station 18 buddies.

Here’s where the firefighting DNA enters our story. “As a volunteer firefighter all you dream about is being able to do it full-time. Being able to help folks – whether it’s a fire or an EMS call – is the best feeling in the world,” Ethan says. “The fact that I get to do just that in the biggest city in East Tennessee is a great achievement for myself; it’s so special because I’m actually living my dream that I’ve had all my life. I can’t believe this is my life and I get to do this.”

Capt. McReynolds does not waste words or hand out loads of praise. But he says this about Ethan: “… If I had a son, I would want him to be Ethan. He is a great human being … unmatched! This kid is the best employee KFD has ever had! He is great at every part of the job.”

And Chief Glenn followed with this: “Ethan is one of the most dedicated individuals to be hired by the KFD. He always puts his training first. Who knew that a chicken farmer could be so good at saving lives and protecting property? He’s a really fine young man and we all know it.”

Tom King has been the editor of newspapers in Texas and California and also worked in Tennessee and Georgia. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring as an Our Town Hero, please email him at the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.