By Rupert Howell
Panola County is easing into county fire protection following action Monday that creates two “grading districts” in lieu of rural fire districts, giving administration and financial duties to the county.
Meeting in Batesville Monday, supervisors voted to accept the resignation of fire district commissioners from Pleasant Grove and Red Hill districts.
Supervisor Board president Cole Flint made it known that there is not a problem with fire commissioners. Rural fire districts are separate entities from county government but are subsidized through millage, grants and insurance rebates.
The issue was brought up the previous week and tabled until Monday with Flint stating, “It’s time to move forward with our fire service,” sighting 30-year-old districts that have not improved their fire ratings since they originated.
Homeowner insurance rate scales are tied to the rating of the local fire service offered.
Cole last week said some districts are, “Barely making their rating because they can’t get people to fires.”
Batesville Fire Chief Tim Taylor was asked last week about volunteer fire departments as he has seen Batesville transition from volunteers only to paid firemen.
He noted that in the past when local people worked at locally owned businesses and there were two or three fire calls a month, people were glad to serve and proud to employ volunteer firefighters.
But presently, Taylor noted, with an average of two or three fire calls a day including automobile accidents and automatic alarm systems, it has become too frequent and too costly to expect employers to turn loose an employee to answer every alarm.
Cole noted during last week’s meetings that some districts were barely making their  ratings now because, “They can’t get people to fires.”
He also explained that some districts have only shown an improved rating due to the rating requirements being changed, not because of actual improvements within the department.
Both Cole and Flint noted that while some districts had their problems, others were doing well and Cole emphasized during both meetings that any change should be voluntary by the district commissioners. He said last week that two more may decide to become grading districts.
Jerry Cranford who serves as a commissioner in the Pope district and is a former fire chief said his district was interested but needed more information about how the grading districts would be administered.
“We’re not against it, we just need to know more,” he told supervisors.
“Recruiting and keeping volunteers is the biggest problem we have county-wide,” Cranford said. Some of the county’s 10 rural fire districts have problems raising funds for basic equipment while others with more population, community support and active support groups have bridged their financial needs.
Both districts seeking grading district status were debt free according to supervisor board attorney Bill McKenzie who said that would make the request for the change easier and noted, “It’s an amazingly simple procedure,” (changing from a rural fire district to a county grading district.).
Fire districts currently receive a small amount of millage money, approximately $7,000 each for Pleasant Grove and Red Hill, and a portion of the county’s insurance rebate money which is approximately $120,000 for the entire county.
Grants are available and used to finance fire trucks.
Panola has 10 rural districts with the remainder being municipal districts such as Batesville, Como, Courtland and Sardis.
Cole said last week that the Batesville and Sardis departments respond to almost all structural fires in the county as volunteers from the rural districts are sometimes unable to respond during workday periods.
Following Monday’s supervisor meeting an emergency meeting of Panola County Fire Chiefs Association was called to explain potential changes and to clarify that it was a voluntary process.
Cole said to change from a rural district to a grading district required a unanimous vote by the district’s commissioners. Supervisors have no choice other than to accept he explained.