To all of those who are starting to debate the merits of the Sumter County Fire Department including Jon A. Suggs, Bud Womack, and Christy Harper, please consider that the citys financial discussion has absolutely nothing to do with the operation and governance of the Sumter County Fire Department. As a bit of factual (and yes, the sources are of public record as a part of GIS, ISO, Sumter County, and Americus City) information. Up until the creation of the Sumter County Fire Department, 65% of the residents of Sumter County had NO fire protection at all. AFES would respond, but there was a cost back to the county per call. This was with the exception of the 27th land district which was provided coverage by AFES, also at a cost to those residents. Sumter County Fire Department mans 4 stations with paid personnel, all State and NFPA Certified, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The 15 paid staff cover 497 square miles of land area and approximately 15,000 residents. They do all of this with a combination of paid staff, volunteers, and inmate firefighters. The annual operating budget is roughly $1.6 million. They have earned and maintain a Class 5/9 ISO split rating with the vast majority of county residents living within a Class 5 fire rating. By comparison, AFES mans 3 stations 24/7/365. All personnel maintain, at a minimum, the same State and NFPA firefighter certification requirements. AFES has 51 paid staff/personnel (3 times the amount of the county fire department) who cover 11 square miles of land area and approximately 17,000 residents. The annual operating budget is roughly $3 million. They have earned and maintain a Class 2 ISO rating. Before everyone in the 27th land district begins to debate their increase in ratings, please understand that you were living within a grandfathered rating at the time you were served by AFES. Due to new ISO requirements, you would no longer enjoy a Class 2 rating - you would have the same Class 5 rating that you currently have (with a very few exceptions). If you want to know how ISO ratings affect your insurance premiums, please talk to a licensed insurance professional and ask to actually see the difference in premiums between the ISO rating points. I ask you these two questions: 1. Why has SCFD even entered the conversation other than comments made by the people listed above? The comments are not germane to the topic of the citys fiscal irresponsibility. 2. Looking at the facts above, not the rhetoric spewing forth from the ignorant, do you still have any questions regarding the SCFD?
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 21:02:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015