MS Fire Dept. Named Among Nation’s Best

The Biloxi Fire Department is now ranked among the nation’s best. With the addition of a fire training tower, two new stations and other improvements in 2020, the station earned a Class 2 rating, putting the Biloxi FD among the top 2% of stations in the country.

MS ranks fire stations from 1-10, with a 1 being the best. Only Biloxi and Gulfport have a Class 2 rating. There are no Class 1 stations in Mississippi.

Fire Chief Joe Boney said the Mississippi State Rating Bureau elevated Biloxi from a Class 3 to a Class 2 after reviewing the city’s investment in the fire department’s staffing levels, new stations and training tower, ongoing training and fire prevention programs and procedures, new equipment and dispatching, as well as upgrades to the city’s water system. Another factor: the Geographic Information Systems mapping’s archive, which shows citywide locations of such things as fire hydrants, water mains and other infrastructure.

The savings on fire insurance will depend on the type of insurance. For instance, when Biloxi went from a Class 5 to a Class 4 in 2009, fire insurance rates could have decreased anywhere from 5 to 8 percent, depending on the type and size of structure insured.

Residents and business owners in Biloxi should contact their insurance agent to make sure they are receiving discounts for the city’s new rating. In fact, the Mississippi State Rating Bureau says those rates should be pro-rated to Dec. 1, 2020.

The Biloxi Fire Department, which has 163 firefighters and 10 stations across the city, responds to about 150 calls a week, with two-thirds of those being medical emergencies. The department has a response time of three to five minutes.

(Source: City of Biloxi)

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