Into the Fire - Shane Petty

This Friday, November 21, 2025, Into the Fire Episode #75 will feature Shane Petty. Shane is a legend in the Great State of Tennessee when it comes to State Rangers. Shane is currently the Operations Chief for Maury County Office of Emergency Management where he oversees day to day operations for the office as well as the search and rescue program and the department’s K-9 program.

From 1989-1993 he was a park ranger for Henry Horton state park and later became the assistant Chief and in 1997 he was named Chief Ranger for all 56 state parks overseeing 250 state park rangers and all emergency operation teams which included wildland fire response, search and rescue, horse mounted, and their k-9 search and rescue team until his retirement in 2023.

Chief Petty has been involved or ran over 2000 search and rescue missions for lost/injured people and has captured over 280 missing persons with hiss bloodhounds. He has authored 2 books on search and rescue; “Lost and Hound, and “So God Made Rangers”.

He belongs on several search and rescue boards in Tennessee and is a co-founder of “TSAR”, (Tracking and search and rescue) in conjunction with the Tennessee Law Enforcement Academy where he has been an adjunct instructor for 29 years.