Gluckstadt fire rating lowered
GLUCKSTADT — Residents who live in the South Madison Fire Protection District could soon look forward to reduced fire insurance rates thanks to a recent improvement in the district's ratings.
The district, also known as the Gluckstadt Fire Department, recently received an upgrade in its fire protection rating from the Mississippi State Rating Bureau. The rating was upgraded from Class Six to Class Five, which could mean possible hundreds of dollars in savings for area residents.
"You bet I'm proud," South Madison Fire Chief Henry Davis said. "When I started here in 1990, we had one truck and 15 volunteers. Today, we have 37 full-time firefighters and 12 volunteers at three stations with six trucks."
Davis added that the upgraded rating was the result of a combination of developments that have improved the district's response times and ability to fight fires.
"Getting more career guys in the fold and increasing our manpower was a big part of it," Davis said. "We also adopted the 2018 Fire Safety Codes and purchased two new trucks — a 2018 and a 2019 pumper — and the new station the county built on Yandell Road helped a lot."
Homeowners in the district should be able to realize savings resulting from the upgraded rating retroactive to May 26. Some of the subdivisions within the district include Bainbridge, Harvey Crossing, Twin Cedars, Cherry Hill Plantation, Johnstone, Lake Caroline, Devlin Springs and Ashbrooke.
The district received public praise for its achievement at Monday's meeting of the Madison County Board of Supervisors. Fire Coordinator Minor Norman invited Davis and some of the firemen to the meeting to receive recognition.
"It gets harder (to improve) the lower you get," Norman said. "And we're not talking about filling out forms. This is the result of hard work."
Davis thanked the Supervisors for the recognition, but said Wednesday the department isn't resting on its laurels.
The next step, he said, is to move from a Class 5 to a Class 4 rating.
"We could drop further to Class 4 by adding a ladder truck," Davis said. "We have one spec'd out, we just don't have the funding to get it at this moment. If we had a county-built training facility that all of the various fire departments in the county could use, we would also get that credit."
The other issue that needs to be addressed, he added, is the firehouse on U.S. Highway 51. The district has outgrown the station, he said.
"We've outgrown Station 1 there on Highway 51," Davis said. "So, it either needs to be torn down and rebuilt or relocated closer to the industrial park. (The current station) holds the trucks fine, it just doesn't hold the people. If Gluckstadt gets incorporated, the city could choose to build a new one."