As of this month, Starkville Fire Department officially boasts a Class 3 rating from Mississippi State Rating Bureau, Chief Charles Yarbrough announced at a ceremony at Fire Station 1 Monday.
The Mississippi State Rating Bureau rates departments on a 1-10 scale, with 1 being the best and 10 the worst. SFD’s new rating puts it in a class with only five other departments in the state, including Columbus Fire and Rescue, which earned a Class 3 rating in 2018.
“I am proud (of) the commitment to ongoing improvement at Starkville Fire Department,” said Yarbrough, who made a Class 3 rating one of his goals for the department when he became chief in 2015. “The staff that make up this department care deeply about their work to improve the lives of the people of the city of Starkville. … This improved rating validates the excellent service provided.”
Ratings for the department are based on factors from response times and number of personnel to training available for firefighters and fire hydrant placement, Yarbrough said.
In order to earn the rating, Yarbrough said, over the last few years the department has implemented several changes, including a repairing and replacing some of the city’s fire hydrants and fully staffing Fire Station 5 in December 2019. When Yarbrough first became chief, the city’s newest fire station only operated once every three days with a full staff, according to previous reporting by The Dispatch. Mayor Lynn Spruill said each fire station is staffed with a minimum of three firefighters per shift.
Other departments, such as Starkville Utilities and Oktibbeha County E-911 had to make their own improvements to help lower the city’s rating.
“It all came together for a Class 3 rating,” Yarbrough said.
He also credited the mayor and board of aldermen for their support of the department, particularly when it came to hiring and fully staffing Fire Station 5.
City officials, including Mayor Lynn Spruill and Ward 5 Alderman Hamp Beatty, attended Monday’s ceremony. Beatty, who joined the board of aldermen in a special election last year and who Spruill said has made SFD’s improvement to a Class 3 one of his highest priorities, told The Dispatch the lower rating will particularly help businesses within the city because of the lower insurance premiums. It also will lower insurance premiums for homeowners.
Spruill said she didn’t know how much, exactly, the insurance premiums will improve, pointing out that it likely depends on the individual insurance company. However, she expects insurance premiums to lower 5- to 10-percent “at a minimum.”
Beatty said the new rating puts the department in an “elite class” of fire departments throughout the state.
“This is a testament to our commitment to public safety in the city of Starkville,” he said.
Spruill said the city’s firefighters have particularly shown their colors in recent weeks, referencing an accident they responded to at a construction site on South Montgomery Street where two construction workers died when a trench collapsed on them on May 20. Firefighters spent more than two hours trying to free the victims from the debris.
“I can’t say enough about what you guys have done,” Spruill said. “They have been showing their stuff for the last few weeks. They did an incredible job when we had that tragedy in the trench, and now for you guys to be awarded a Class 3, it’s just wonderful. I’m so very proud.”
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