[3/3/04]Owners of homes in the Fisher Ferry Fire Protection District may pay less for insurance thanks to a better classification earned by the district’s volunteer fire department.

The state-set rating has been changed from 10 to 8, Mississippi Commissioner of Insurance George Dale’s office announced Tuesday.

The number is a factor many insurance companies use in calculating the price of fire insurance. The lower the number, the lower the risk of claims meaning insurance can be sold cheaper. A press release from Dale’s office said some rates may drop 40 percent.

“This is where everybody in their area gains from a volunteer fire department,” said Kelly Worthy, coordinator of Warren County’s volunteer firefighters. “This is helping them with their pocketbook.”

The commissioner rates 210 fire districts in Mississippi. A 1 rating is the best; a 10 is the same as having no fire department at all.

A two-step change such as the one announced Tuesday is rare, insurance department spokesman Shep Montgomery said.

“It’s what we’ve been working on countywide,” Worthy said.

With the upgrade, Fisher Ferry became the third of the county’s six volunteer fire departments to move up from 10. The Culkin VFD is an 8 and the Bovina VFD’s rating is 9. Other volunteer departments in the county are Eagle Lake, LeTourneau and Northeast.

Inside Vicksburg, the rating remains 5 despite continuing efforts over the past 10 years to reduce the rate by adding staff, stations, equipment and training to the full-time department. The lowest municipal departments in Mississippi are at level 2.

Worthy said requirements for the upgrade included improvements in manpower, water-supply and record-keeping, including maintenance of training records.

“A lot of people did a lot of work,” to achieve the upgrade, Worthy said. “We’ve been working on it for years.”

The department has about 20 firefighters who maintain their training certifications in addition to performing their regular jobs daily, Worthy said. It obtained a new fire truck in 2002, he added.

The department will not be able to rest on its newly upgraded rating, Worthy added, since state insurance officials will be revisiting periodically.

“Their rating bureau comes back every three years to make sure everything is up to par,” he said.

Creation of the volunteer fire network began about 15 years ago as the City of Vicksburg phased out countywide response. The volunteers are dispatched through the 911 Center using paging devices. Although municipal crews respond to alarms outside the city at sites such as River Region Medical Center and public schools, volunteers are primary in responding in many large residential areas around the city.