Chief Credits the Volunteer Firemen
The Quitman Volunteer Fire Department has made a great accomplishment through hard work and dedication over the years. They have achieved something very difficult to attain and improved the department’s rating.
“The state rating bureau approved our fire rating for the City of Quitman as a six, and the previous rating was a seven. In the fire service, being dropped a number is the same as going to a better grade. We went from a seven to a six, which is a great thing for us,” proclaimed Quitman Fire Chief Mickey Long. “That’s a milestone for a volunteer fire department to go to a six. It’s extremely hard for that to happen. On December 16, we have been and are now certified as a volunteer fire department with a state certification as a six.”
A lot of work went into improving the fire rating, and there was a joint effort in achieving the results. Mickey Long is proud of his department, but he gives the majority of the credit to all of the people who were involved in making it possible. He knows that each department in the county does everything just as well, but he is able to see where the Quitman department has been blessed with an abundance of resources and assistance.
“There was a lot of work that went into that. There was a lot of work, but the volunteer fire department guys were answering the calls,” explained Mickey. “There was so much participation. The city participated. Anything we ever asked the city to do for us, they have always come forward and helped. We are a municipal fire department; most of our funding is city, but anything I’ve ever asked the county for help for to help us accomplish things in the city has never been turned down.”
He gives a lot of the credit to the volunteers who faithfully serve the community by responding to all the calls that go out.
“This is a project I’ve been working on for close to two years. Our firemen do their jobs and answer the calls,” declared Mickey. “Our guys in Quitman do a great job of getting to fires and doing what we need to do. Our men coming and doing what they need to do made a big impact on us being able to go to a six fire rating, and that is something to be very proud of. They look at the amount of time it takes us to answer and make it to a call. There’s just a lot that goes into it. We just work hard and do the best that we can.”
The department also has different programs that are in effect for educating the citizens that assisted in changing the rating.
“We do a lot of fire education. We get a lot of stuff mailed out to people about fire prevention. The education the children get at school teaching them to stop, drop, and roll help us,” informed Mickey. “All of that helps because our fires are down significantly in Quitman and this county. We still have a lot of medical calls, but our structure fires are down a large percentage this year. We have a lot of fire prevention programs out there that the state funds, and we’re seeing a lot of the effects of our fire programs.”
He also recognizes that the city has played an integral part in the change by working diligently with the fire department to make sure they have everything they need.
“There was a lot of work done behind the scenes and with the city, and there is a lot of work that we are still doing. We’re graded on a point schedule. We surpassed that point schedule in December,” expressed Mickey. “We have other things going on in the city to give us even more points. We want to get more points so that if something new were to happen that could cost us some points, then one hiccup couldn’t take us out of a six. We’re working on a cushion between a six and a five now.”
One of the ways the city has assisted has been with maintaining and testing the fire hydrants. In fact, they are continuing to work with the fire hydrants to help the firemen even more.
“Some of the things we did were with infrastructure. The city has been working with us, and some of the things they’re doing with our hydrants, such as observation writers, testing them, and checking the flow, has really helped. That part of our points was definitely bolstered by the city and their water department workers. They did a great job keeping me informed about what was going on so that I could let the rating bureau know what we were doing,” stated Mickey. “We’re working on the hydrants now. We’re in the process of putting color caps on our hydrants that can tell our firemen when we get to a fire how many gallons a minute that hydrant will produce to go into our trucks. That way we can know where we’re at on production of water and can know if we need another truck to hook up to another hydrant.”
The change in fire rating has a major impact on the community itself. With the improved rating, citizens in the city should notice a decrease in their home insurance as it relates to fire prevention.
“This rating means a great savings for the people of Quitman. From the checking I’ve been doing, there should be an impact on your house insurance with fire prevention and fire insurance on homes,” announced Mickey. “We appreciate our people in this town and what they do for this city. This is our payback to them because it means fewer dollars out of their pocket for their fire insurance. I’ve already notified all the insurance companies in Quitman of the drop in insurance. Anyone who uses an insurance that is not in the city needs to get on the phone and notify the company that their fire rating is now a six so they can make that drop in insurance. There should be some type of percentage drop on that insurance.”
Currently, the station has three fire engines, one tanker, and one rescue vehicle. They plan to do everything they can to continue to improve so that they can better help everyone in the community and the county.
