Nashville Firefighter Brennen (Martin) Tatum calls East Nashville citizen a ‘Bitch’, encourages him to confront others | ALSO: NFD employees on strip clubs, politics, transgender restrooms, & more! *UPDATED*

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UPDATE: See Part II: Nashville Firefighters taking pics and selfies on scene? Also, the IAFF Local 140’s response. Also, Nashville Fire Department: VIDEO! Stop the Engine! Stripping for a Drag Queen while on Duty! NEW: Tim Lankford says he was “So Disturbed” by the Gay Marriage Ruling that he can “Barely Even Function” at his job as District Chief!

Of all the Nashville Metro Departments to have issues with their employees and social media, the Nashville Fire Department seems to be leading the pack. Perhaps it’s the typical ‘Type-A’ personalities typically associated with being a firefighter, but they just can’t seem to behave on social media. From Jake Caldwell, to Kenneth Kennedy, to Brennen (Martin) Tatum – and those are just a handful of the more public ones that residents probably know from memory. We’re sure if we did an in-depth dive into the social media accounts of the roster of firefighters, we’re probably find a LOT worse. Actually, we did that very thing – but first let’s take a look at Nashville Fire Employee Breenen Tatum’s recent interaction with a citizen.

“…why don’t you confront her and ask her why she is taking 1-ply from the Porta Jon instead of hiding behind your blinds and blasting her on Fb like a bitch?…”

Those are just some of the words typed by Nashville Firefighter Brennen (Martin) Tatum. He is listed in the civil service record as “Brennen Martin” however on his social media accounts and his most recent state licensure, he lists his name as “Brennen Tatum”, except in the URLs where are permanently set as his name of Brennen Martin. We’re not sure why he goes by two last names, but we’ll go with Tatum, since that’s his most recent.

The response was to a post in a group of over 20,000 East Nashville residents – and even though we, and you, may agree with his sentiment, when your profile is blasting the NFD all over it, it’s probably not the best example to be setting when the department has a sorted history of social media disasters already. It is unclear if Brennen was on-duty when the message was typed, but we have filed a request to find out. Brennen must have realized his error, as he removed his rant against the East Nashville resident within an hour of it being posted – indicating he knew he should not be acting like that in a public forum while representing the Nashville Fire Department on his public profile – but not before it was sent to us in several screenshots. Remember, the internet is forever. The moment you hit post, even if you delete it seconds later, is long enough for someone to see and save what you said.

breenan fb post anger

tatum license

We have reached out to the Nashville Fire Department to get a copy of their Social Media Policy/Guidelines, or more specifically a copy of the ‘Nashville Fire Department Operations Procedures and Guidelines’ and specifically section  1.48 “Smart/Cellular Phone; Camera and other Electronic Devise use policy” – which was used during the termination of Kenneth Kennedy, and also to find out if Brennen was on-duty during the time of the posting, which was Saturday night around 22:25 (05/21/16).

UPDATED 3PM: We have received a copy of the Nashville Fire Department’s Social Media Policy, posted below:

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Brennan’s rage post got us wondering just how many other Nashville Firefighters & Medics (in employ of NFD) were posting similar things publicly, in spite of the departments storied history of employee’s social media antics. To be fair, we ONLY looked at posts that were set to ‘PUBLIC’ on facebook (there were many questionable posts on Instagram, but we’ll have a future post on that), and the employee had to have ‘Nashville Fire Department’ listed publicly as their current employer. In addition, to be absolutely sure we only included current employees, we further narrowed that search down to profiles that had publicly checked into a Nashville firehouse in the previous 60 days. What we found was a lot of check-ins at strip clubs, often several in the same week, all set to public, employees exercising bad judgement in their daily lives – not exactly a quality you look for in a medic/firefighter who has other people’s lives in their hands daily. Here is just a small sampling of what we found:


Let’s meet Tim Lankford – he’s been the Nashville Fire Department’s EMS District Chief since 1987! In all that time, he seems to be stuck in time – in a time when the earth was flat and evolution wasn’t proven fact. Oh Tim – your posts have kept us laughing. This is what the upper management is, folks:

tim lankford ems chief fb job title

Tim has publicly threatened any transgender person, who happens to be in the restroom with his family, with BODILY HARM:

tim transgenders no surgery dist ems chief

Tim doesn’t believe in evolution:

tim doesnt beleive in evolution

Tim doesn’t believe people that have religions other than his own should be able to shop with him:

tim wont shop with muslims

He also thinks that president Obama is Muslim:

tim all muslim poll obama

Of course, Time  Lankford is a Trump Supporter:

tim trump 95

Tim is “firmly planted” in his beliefs – despite what science says:

tim wasting time


Let’s meet Jerry Brown.

jerry brown ID

Jerry likes to visit the Strip Club – at 8AM.

jerry 8am strip club

Jerry also likes to visit the strip club – at 1PM.

jerry 1pm strip club

Jerry would rather message back and forth via text and social media instead of paying attention to learn about new skills to save lives:

jerry brown message during training

Jerry realizes that social media shouldn’t be the place to blast work issues, but strip club check-ins are perfectly fine:

jerry brown social media shifts jerry

Jerry has a large fire engine with huge hoses that put out water at speeds you can’t fathom, and would certainly knock a person down, and across a field. Yet Jerry would not drive his firetruck into a dangerous situation, like Cayce homes, for instance if there was a fire, or people needed help:

jerry caycee homes comments jerry brown nfd

Oh damn, Jerry’s at the strip club, AGAIN:

jerry deja vu

Did Jerry plan this training day? Doubtful since he prefers the other strip club, but possible:

jerry shute training strip club


Bad Judgement 101: Justin Hays. Speaks for itself.

justin poor judgement


Bad Judgement 102: Tant Dowell – because no one has ever had to call 911 from pulling their kids on a piece of inflated plastic or rubber behind a moving vehicle on ice, right? Parent of the year nominee?

tant sledding kids with truck


Justin Lee Shelby is afraid of a smelly ‘shew kitty’ patient? We won’t even try to decipher that one:

justin shew kitty patient


Let’s meet Jason Amburgey – Mr. February on the NFD Calendar – he got the beauty instead of the brains:

jason 1

Jason has the ethics of, well, a thief:

jason ethics bills

Jason doesn’t understand the meaning of transgender, and that everyone needs to pee:

jason gender restrooms

Jason also has issues with certain words and aspects of races:

jason niggas

Jason has issues with nurses – imagine his excitement for the resident ride-alongs, i bet he takes vacation that week?:

jason nurse

Jason doesn’t like working shifts in Hermitage, because of the number of continuous, back to back calls – he prefers a job at a house where he gets fewer calls, and doesn’t have to work as much:

jason hates east

jason herm 3

jason herm hate 2

We could have spent several hours reviewing inappropriate posts by NFD Employees. While everyone has the right to say what they want, they also have to follow guidelines once they’ve listed NFD as their employer on their profile. They could remove that portion, set it to private, set the post to private, or many other things to mitigate the negative image they give to the Nashville Fire Department – which has had its share of issues and certainly doesn’t need another social media scandal.

Call / Text Kurt NOW! 615-479-0550

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26 Thoughts to “Nashville Firefighter Brennen (Martin) Tatum calls East Nashville citizen a ‘Bitch’, encourages him to confront others | ALSO: NFD employees on strip clubs, politics, transgender restrooms, & more! *UPDATED*”

  1. Bob

    Not much happening in East Nashville I guess!

  2. Bob

    Good story, can I hear it again!

  3. Kelly McTompkin

    Your story is about a firefighter that stood up for someone that is likely in need. Regardless of how you tried to spin it, just reading Mr. Tatum’s actual post completely proves you to be a liar. I saw the initial post that prompted this firefighters response. The initial post by an east nashville citizen bashed a lady for taking Tp from a Porta potty. It was relentless and mean. (Be like a real journalist and print the initial post) I applaud Brennen Tatum for standing up. He didn’t call anyone a bitch nor did he suggest a confrontation. He suggested asking why she was stealing and to find out her situation before publicly humiliating someone.

    You then proceeded to trash other heroes for playing with their kids, etc. Entirely ridiculous. These men and women are humans like the rest of us but were called to do superhuman jobs that not everyone could or would do.

    Frankly I’ll never read another article of yours. You print misinformation, not facts. Makes me wonder, could you not make it through the academy yourself?

    1. I Support those who risk their lives to save others

      I agree with you Kelly!!! I bet this Coward won’t run into a burning building to save a life! You are the most poor excuse for a citizen of Nashville! Hope these Heros never have to save your life! Oh but wait, they still will even though you are on the internet bashing these local Heros!

  4. Buck Johnson

    Wow, who is the watch dog for the press?People have different views or lifestyle from liberals and Libs aren’t to reliant of those views. We need more brave firefighters and less chicken shit wussy man bun wearing gossip reports!

    1. I support those who risk their lives to save others

      Exactly!!!

  5. Buck Johnson

    BTW, this reports feels his opinions are correct and those of others aren’t valid, how freaking liberal of him! Liberals are the most intolerant people in America

  6. Hobbie8969@gmail.com

    You took only small.parts of those posts and spun it to be what you wanted to be. If you read the entire post you would see if different image than the one you have posted. What someone does off duty is their right. You go where you want on your days off and as far as complaining about a bad day or night…WE ALL HAVE DONE THAT…I don’t care what you do for a living we “bitch” to our friends about crap. You are just causing BS drama and looking to stir up.shit as my grandmother would say. Why don’t you report on something real important. One other thing…they never said they wouldn’t go to Cayci homes…they said the recent violence against an officer would slow down their response time waiting to make sure it’s safe for them and their crew…because they want to go home safe to their families.. Tell the truth or stop reporting..

  7. Mark Barrett

    Tim has publicly threatened any transgender person, who happens to be in the restroom with his family, with BODILY HARM:——–This is false! It was a quote and you did not show the whole post. You should apologize!

  8. Paul Nicholson Sucks

    I am not sure what your agenda is, but after reading this “blog,” it is obvious you have issues. What I gathered from this epic failure of an article are as follows (in no particular order):
    1. You live a sad, pathetic, and miserable life.
    2. You have way too much time on your hands.
    3. Journalism is not and never will be your strong point.
    4. Your “blog” reaches out and screams jealousy to me.
    5. You are quick to judge someone’s character based solely on a photo
    6. You put your nose where it doesn’t belong
    7. You have lived a life hiding behind a keyboard (keyboard warrior)
    8. You would welcome any of these men’s help in a time of your need
    9. You form baseless opinions and try to force them on others (earmark of shitty journalism)
    10. You are very arrogant and think you are perfect
    11. You can’t take a joke or pick up on sarcasm
    12. I feel sorry for your wife and kids
    13. Logan’s made a mistake hiring you
    14. You need to come down off your high horse and change your tampon
    15. You are spineless and your wife has total possession of your balls at all times
    16. You are constantly whining about everything (your other article on how to be a snitch with codes)
    17. You have an obvious case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
    18. You are very insecure
    19. You think everyone should live a life exactly like yours, and if they don’t they are wrong
    20. You think your wife looks at firefighters more admirably than you, so this is your coping mechanism
    21. You are the epitome of misery that loves company

  9. […] Nashville Firefighter Brennen (Martin) Tatum calls East Nashville citizen a ‘Bitch’, encourages him to confront others | ALSO: NFD employees on strip clubs, politics, transgender restrooms, & more! *UPDATED* […]

  10. […] Nashville Firefighter Brennen (Martin) Tatum calls East Nashville citizen a ‘Bitch’, encourages him to confront others | ALSO: NFD employees on strip clubs, politics, transgender restrooms, & more! *UPDATED* […]

  11. Looking for substantial journalism

    I see eastnashville.news, and you should use “news” lightly here, has 260 likes on Facebook. Way to go guys! maybe one day you will have as many followers as a pet dogs profile. This Paul Nicholson is a hack, good luck on becoming a real journalist one day.

  12. Michelle

    I’m pretty sure that when NFD saves your life, you definitely won’t care at that time what is on their Social media account. Those who work in the emergency field or who have a spouse in it, they both sacrifice a lot of time away from home and family. A lot of nights/days getting off 2 hours late to help someone else that has NO appreciation for what they do. They get cussed at, spit at, yelled at, vomited on, crapped on, hurt, heart broken while holding a dead child, or having to tell someone they couldn’t save their loved one, risk their lives daily all for people like you that have no respect for what they do but instead trying to find something wrong. You must not have mirrors in your house because your quick to point fingers! We have enough hate in this world toward the emergency field why would you try to spread more??? If you have nothing better to report on than this crap, I would definitely start rethinking my career choice!

  13. Deborah

    I know most of those NFD firefighters and one especially well and regardless of this article they still have my respect in their lives. These guys go through hell in their daily work lives in this town and people need to respect them!

  14. […] Nashville Firefighter Brennen (Martin) Tatum calls East Nashville citizen a ‘Bitch’, encourages him to confront others | ALSO: NFD employees on strip clubs, politics, transgender restrooms, & more! *UPDATED* […]

  15. Ralph wiggums

    weakest scandal ever

  16. Chelsea

    This is sad, NFD are amazing people who do a job you clearly won’t. Stick to being a keyboard warrior, the real world is too tough for you.

  17. […] Nashville Firefighter Brennen (Martin) Tatum calls East Nashville citizen a ‘Bitch’, encourages him to confront others | ALSO: NFD employees on strip clubs, politics, transgender restrooms, & more! *UPDATED* […]

  18. […] Nashville Firefighter Brennen (Martin) Tatum calls East Nashville citizen a ‘Bitch’, encourages him to confront others | ALSO: NFD employees on strip clubs, politics, transgender restrooms, & more! *UPDATED* […]

  19. Jacob

    I love Nashville and even run a local SEO firm/marketing agency here. Sometimes people do stupid things…we are all human. I would really like to see more positive articles instead of negative ones…there are so many good people doing good things in Nashville that could be written about.

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