Comedian Steven Wright told a story about going to a 24-hour market.

“When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, ‘Hey, the sign says you’re open 24 hours. He said, ‘Yeah, but not in a row.’”

That’s sort of what it’s like for volunteer fire departments. Between the volunteer fire departments in Lowndes and Oktibbeha County, there are roughly 285 firefighters on the rosters. Each county services five rural fire departments.

“I was talking with (Lowndes County fire coordinator) Neal Austin the other day about this,” said Oktibbeha County fire coordinator Patrick Warner. “On a given day, when we get a call, I might have one or two show up, or I might have 10 show up. It just depends on the time and circumstances with each call.”

Austin said he has 135 firefighters on his roster among his five fire districts, though he said they can all respond to calls throughout the county as needed.

“And the truth is if we had 200, it still might not be enough in some cases,” he said. “A lot depends on the time of day and what kind of call it is. Our firefighters have jobs, so they’re not as available during the day as they would be at night. Even then, a lot of them aren’t available at night because of family activities, youth sports, those sorts of things. If it’s a regular house fire, I need 12 to 16 firefighters to operate safely. If it’s an industrial fire, you need a lot more than that. It’s a constant struggle.”

That dynamic has fire coordinators constantly trying to add and retain firefighters.

By definition, volunteer firefighters aren’t paid.

“It’s something they do as a service to their community,” Warner said. “That won’t ever change. But we’ve been trying to get the legislature to do something to help us with this for years.”

That day may soon arrive. On Thursday, the Mississippi House of Representatives passed House Bill 521, which will create a points-based incentive program called “Length of Service Award Program” (LOSAP) that would divert money from state insurance premium rebate funds to volunteer firefighters.

“It’s really a pension program for our firefighters,” Warner said. “Every firefighter will start earning points as soon as the law goes into effect. When they retire, they get lump sum payments for what they’ve accumulated each year.”

Tax rebate funds are funds set aside from insurance premium taxes, which are collected by the state for county fire services based on the amount of premium payments collected in each county. Those funds are distributed by the county board of supervisors.

The bill passed the House by a 116-0 vote. It now goes to the Mississippi Senate.

“I’m absolutely for this bill,” said Sen. Chuck Younger (R-Lowndes County). “It’s tough out there for our volunteer fire departments, so anything that helps our volunteer fire departments find and keep firefighters should be an easy call, especially if we can do that without any additional cost to taxpayers. I can’t imagine there would be hardly any objection to this in the Senate.”

The details of how the program would work are pending. The bill states there will be a commission appointed to establish the particulars of the program and administer it.

“The way I understand it is that firefighters get points every time they answer a call, participate in training or perform other duties that the fire department needs,” Austin said. “Some firefighters will earn a lot of points, some less, depending on how much they do. At the end of the year, the fire coordinator sends that information to the commission and they calculate how much money the firefighters have added to their account on a yearly basis.”

Firefighters can also provide documentation to get retroactive credit for service rendered, Austin said.

Austin said that while no precise payment formula has been developed, he would expect firefighters will earn anywhere from $300 to $900 annually depending on how much they work.

“For some who are active and stay with us for 10, 20 years, they’ll have a nice little nest egg when they retire or leave service,” Austin said.

“I’d like it to be more, but this money is rebate money, which we use to purchase equipment and meet other needs, so we have to be careful. My hope is that we can grow this funding to increase the (LOSAP) benefits somewhere down the road.”

Warner said that while the LOSAP program will be a good tool for recruiting new firefighters, it will also be an incentive for firefighters to stay on.

“Here and really everywhere, the majority of our firefighters are older people,” Warner said. “We have some who have been with us 20, 30 years. I definitely think it will help firefighters stay on longer. And I think it will help recruit more fighters because they’ll be building up money as long as they stay with us and are active.”

Defined contribution: LOSAP qualifying proposed point system

Qualifying Service Credit points for LOSAP may be earned in any of the following categories as outlined below.

1. Assigned Duties:
Each member fulfilling 75 percent his or her assigned duties/emergency responses each month will earn a maximum of 2 points a month.
Total Shift Points Available: 24

2. Monthly meetings at station:
Attendance at meetings each month will earn 1 point per meeting.
Total Meeting Points Available: 12

3. CPR Certification:
A member maintaining CPR/AED Certification will earn .5 points a month.
Total CPR/AED Points Available: 6

4. MS Fire Academy Classes:
Attendance at a day or night class at the Mississippi Academy/National Fire Academy or field location will earn 5 points for each class completed.
Total Classroom Points Available: 10

5. Fire Safety Education:
Members teaching or assisting in teaching Fire Safety Education or installing smoke alarms will earn 2 points for every 4 hours of instruction delivered or spent installing smoke alarms in private residences. (Must have volunteer status while teaching, assisting or installing).
Total Fire Safety Education Points available: 10

6. Water Shuttle Drills:
Members participating in water shuttles shall be awarded 1 point for each 2 hours of participation at the drill.
Total Water Shuttle Drill Points available: 6

7. Additional points for Officers and Certification:
Member must have a minimum of 25 points in other categories before being eligible for these points.
Members maintaining these offices or certifications will receive 1 point each month.
■ Chief or Assistant Chief – up to 12 points
■ NFPA 1001 I-II Certification – 10 points
■ Certificate –MS Certified Volunteer Firefighter Program Modules 1 and 2 (Currently this is an 88-hour program) – 10 points
■ Certificate – MS Certified Volunteer Firefighter Program II (Currently this is a 44-hour program) – 10 points
■ EMT, AEMT or Paramedic (Able to respond to pages with med control and able to function as a volunteer EMT, AEMT or Paramedic) – 10 points
■ Total Annual Maximum Points Available: 20

Annual Contribution
50 Points: $500
50-75 Points: $600
75-100 Points: $750
■ Up to 10 points over 50 qualifying points will be carried over into the next year.
■ Requirement of 8 years qualifying vestment to be eligible for this program
■ Volunteers with previous affiliation prior to implement of the MS LOSAP program will received qualifying service credit in vestment years at the below rate:
■ 10 years of prior service – 4 years of qualifying vestment
■ 15 years of prior service – 6 years of qualifying vestment
■ 20 years of prior service – fully vested with and eligible for full annuity payment after completing 10 additional years of qualifying service above the 20 years of qualifying credit

■ Attainment of 20 years of qualifying service in the program, full payment of annuity is made to participate.
■ Attainment age-60 — A lump sum annuity payment based on existing qualifying service credit obtained prior to age 60
■ A member that is rendered permanently disabled in the line of duty will receive a full lump sum payment from the plan. Vesting requirements are waived.

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].

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