Lee Gordon Fire Chief

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The Fire Department continues to provide fire and life safety services by conducting community-based safety programs in area schools, daycares, nursing homes, and for various civic organizations. We were able to teach fire safety to at least 1,500 children during fire prevention month alone in 2007. This number continues to grow as we speak to many more classes throughout the school year and summer months. We participated in several parades throughout the year celebrating not only major holidays, but also drug-free awareness, Make a Difference Day, and Stop Domestic Violence, just to name a few. The Fire Department participated in fundraisers for the American Heart Association and the Cancer Society by way of boot drives in the spring and fall. Through generous donations from local businesses like Wal-Mart and Fred’s, we are able to install smoke alarms for elderly, disabled and low-income homeowners in the City of Greenville.

The Training Coordinator, Division Chief Ricky Brown reports a total of 1,313.75 hours of training for 2007, with a total of 16,279.1 man hours in the areas of CPAT training, CPR/First Aid, Firefighter 1001-I-II Certification, Apparatus Driver, Apparatus Operations, WMD Awareness and Company training. We had 21 firefighters successfully complete 1001-I-II Certification training in 2007. The Greenville Fire Department also hosted an L. P. G. Class through the Mississippi State Fire Academy that was attended by 78-80 fire and emergency personnel from across the delta.

Fire Marshal Barbara Wright has reported a very busy year for the Fire Marshal’s Office. For the year 2007, the Fire Marshal’s Office recorded 1,649 fire inspections and re-inspections for new and existing, licensed and non-licensed businesses. A summary of pertinent activities performed by this office for the year 2007: scheduled and performed 1,649 fire inspections and re-inspections for new and existing – licensed and non-licensed – businesses; performed 89 fire investigations of which 20 were accidental, 47 were incendiary, 17 undetermined, 3 attempted arson, and 2 trash fires, categories: occupied dwellings – 42, vacant dwellings – 25, vommercial buildings/storage – 10, vehicles – 10, and Trash – 2; reviewed 13 sets of plans for new constructions and renovations; visited construction sites during installation of fire and life safety equipment; witnessed and approved hydrostat testing of 6 sprinkler systems; witnessed and approved 8 automatic extinguishing system tests; visited 120 sites and performed preliminary walk-through for the relocation of existing businesses, and the establishment of new businesses; visited sites and issued 18 bur permit; addressed 7 citizen complaints; attended 49 meetings; maintained accurate archive and computer records of all Fire Inspections and Fire Investigations; maintained investigative equipment, supplies, and vehicle maintenance.

The City of Greenville also purchased two (2) MobileEyes Inspection Systems for both the Fire Marshal and Assistant Fire Marshal. These systems include tablet-PC’s that carry onboard fire codes and an easy-to-use pre-plan drawing tool. They also came with portable printers to be mounted in the vehicles for quick and easy access for printing fire inspection reports and fire code information. These systems will make record-keeping much easier and more accurate than manually entering data. Also, each fire marshal can obtain previous inspection information on-site.

We lost 34 employees in 2007, including the retirement of two (2) Assistant Chiefs with over 50 years of combined experience. We also grieved over the loss of Captain Theo Scurlark, who lost his battle with cancer on January 15, 2007. However, we hired 28 new employees in 2007, including Steven De Chellis from Idaho who was appointed Fire Chief in March, bringing new ideas from his fire department experiences in California and Saudi Arabia. During his time here, Captain Randy Ray and Captain Tyrone Cook were both appointed to Assistant Chief, following the retirement of Jerry Jordan and Henry Lott. For the most part, the perseverance of our dedicated employees has kept this department moving forward through all these changes. Although we still have challenges to face and problems to solve, we still have one of the best departments in the State of Mississippi.