Video: Winston Co. Fire Depts. Hope To Become Graded

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WINSTON COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — Becoming a graded fire district means a lot for a county.

Homeowners can see big discounts on their insurance, lowering their premium by hundreds of dollars.

Gail Triplett is a life long resident of Winston County.

He’s also worked for the Betheden Volunteer Fire Department for around 20 years.

He says becoming a graded district, more opportunities for growth will happen.

“That we go on and get this done and it’s going to be a few more things we’re going to try to do to even improve that rating,” said Triplett.

Right now, none of the eight volunteer fire departments are graded.

Betheden would be the first in the county.

“We’re all learning the stages and steps that we have to go through in order to finalize this process,” said Winston County EMA Director Buddy King.

Fire departments are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the best.

King says one of the biggest benefits for residents in the graded district is a price cut for their homeowners insurance.

“Through that effectiveness of the fire department, insurance companies realize the reduction of their liability. If you’ve got a good fire department that’s taking care of properties then certainly the insurance companies don’t have as much risk that they would without a good fire department,” said King.

The grading process is lengthy but one that will pay off.

“That drop from 10 to 7, that 3 place drop equals a 33% reduction in homeowners insurance rates, which saves every property owner in that grading district that amount of money on their premium,” added King.
A public hearing regarding the Betheden district will be held Monday morning following the board of supervisors meeting.