Franklin—After 19 years with the Franklin Fire Department, Fire Inspector Ryan Naylor has accepted a new role with the city.

Naylor, who served as a firefighter for 16 years, and fire inspector for three, will assume the position of Occupational Health and Safety Trainer with the City of Franklin’s Risk Management Division in the HR Department next week.

A native of Long Island, NY, Naylor followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was Fire Chief of the Copiague, NY Fire Department.  He said, “They did a big Christmas party every year at the fire station, and we would go.  We’d get to see Santa, and my grandfather would take us to climb on the trucks in the bay.” 

Naylor started his fire department career in 2000, in the Louisville area.  An avid hockey player and fan, he moved there for a marketing job with the Louisville Panthers professional hockey team and began volunteering for St. Matthew’s Fire Protection District.  The combination volunteer-career department paid for his EMT education, then offered him a full-time job soon thereafter. 

The following year Naylor relocated to West Palm Beach, where his family was by that time.  He worked briefly as an EMT in the ER at JFK Medical Center.  In 2002, he followed his brother to Franklin, after being offered a job with the Franklin Fire Department. 

Over the course of his career, Naylor spent nine years at Station 3, and did tours at Stations 2, 4, 5, and 8.  He earned the following awards:

• Unit Citation for Valorous Conduct (2009) for extrication of a patient from a heavy equipment entrapment at a construction site.
• Meritorious Service Award (2018) for rapidly extricating and saving the life of a patient who sustained life-threatening injuries in a head-on motor vehicle collision. 
• Two Phoenix Awards for saving the life of a patient in cardiac arrest (2010 and 2019).
• Outside Agency Commendation (TN EMS Star of Life, Region 5, 2019).
• Appreciation Award (2016) for accepting a voluntary reassignment to work in dispatch for 10 months during a critical shortage of emergency telecommunicators.

Naylor obtained his paramedic license in 2013, and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2018 with a B.S. in Occupational Health and Safety from Eastern Kentucky University.  He was promoted to Fire Inspector in 2018, where he was responsible for inspecting numerous commercial projects, including several in the McEwen Drive and Aspen Grove Drive area.  

Franklin Fire Marshal Andy King commended Naylor for his willingness to step up and accept voluntary reassignments, including the stint in dispatch, and two tours in the Fire Prevention Division prior to being hired as a fire inspector.  King said, “Ryan has always been quick to volunteer to help when there’s been a need in our department.  Most recently, he’s been helping Assistant Fire Marshal Curt Edelmann with fire plan reviews.  He’s willing to get outside his comfort zone and further himself, which is what he’s doing now.  We will miss him but are glad we’ll still be working with him, although in a new capacity.  We are thankful for his service, and wish him all the best.”

Naylor and his wife Lindsay live in Arrington.  They have a 13-year-old son and an eight-year-old daughter.

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