Insurance Rates Could Rise

Insurance rates could go up for Atlanta homeowners if the city doesn’t hire more firefighters. Georgia Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner John Oxendine Cited a report by the New Jersey-based Insurance Services Office. Many companies use the rating to help determine how much homeowners should pay for insurance. It found Atlanta's public protection classification rating dropped from 2 to 4 on a scale of 10 with 1 being the best rating. Atlanta has nine months to make changes that will allow the city to keep its current rating or drop to a 3.

(Associated Press)

State updating firefighter standards

The state regulatory agency which oversees fire departments has suspended some of its skills training while state standards are updated.

The Georgia Firefighter Standards and Training Council updates its training standards every five years for the state's 659 fire departments.

One of the major areas being revamped is an expansion of hazardous material training for entry-level firefighters.

Lyn Pardue is executive director of the Georgia Firefighter Standards and Training Council. He says this will now go beyond the simple identification of hazardous materials.

"These entry-level firefighters will also be equipped with the knowledge of how to go divert the hazardous material. A good example would be an overturned gas truck. They would be trained to dam, or dike, or divert the product to lessen the impact on the environment".

While standards are being freshened, the agency will still conduct checks of personnel and maintenance records for departments statewide. Individual core skills training is expected to pick-up again in September.

Four Irwinville firefighters charged in series of blazes

Four Irwinville volunteer firefighters, including the chief, have been arrested in connection with a series of fires in Irwin County. State Insurance and Fire officials say Chief Rusty Thomas is facing several charges, including counts of first and second degree arson. The firefighters are suspected in a series of blazes dating back to last summer. The fires involved two houses, vehicles, and wood and grass fires.

State fire officials change tactics in drought

State firefighting officials are considering changes in tactics to save water. State Fire Commissioner John Oxendine is ordering inspections of sprinkler systems to be done without flushing water through them, and he proposes moving firefighter training facilities to south Georgia where the drought is less severe. The group also sought water savings by extending the state’s outdoor burning ban, which ended October 1, in order to avoid fires.

Columbus remembers 9/11

CSU students singing national anthem at clock tower.
(Dave Bender)

Columbus State University's historic clock tower rang out at noon Tuesday as faculty, students and city residents gathered to remember the grim events of September 11, 2001.

Tony Oxford, president of National Security Associates is a security specialist who spent several weeks working with recovery crews at the World Trade Center site after the attacks. He told GPB News that the recovery operations left a deep impression on him:

“It was a very humbling experience, a life-changing experience, and it gives us an appreciation for America, what America stands for and why we live here - and why we continue to fight to keep America what it is today.”

An honor guard of Columbus fire and law-enforcement officials stood at attention near relics of the attacks, at an extensive multimedia exhibition.

Honor guard at attention near steel remains recovered from WTC site. (Dave Bender)

A central display featured a torn and twisted steel column recovered from the base of one of the twin towers.

A table featuring documents and relics from the attack on the Pentagon was set out in memory of Marjorie Champion Salamone, a Defense Department employee who was killed in that suicide attack. Salamone grew up in Pine Mt., and attended Troup High School.

"God Bless Fort Benning" flag. (Dave Bender)
A support group called, "God Bless Fort Benning," hung a commemorative 26-by-32-foot American flag in front on the exhibit's venue at The Cunningham Center. 700 children of service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed the panels of patriotic messages.

Busloads of high school students from Muscogee County schools attended the events, which included educational displays; community public safety exhibits and demonstrations; videos, artifacts and stories from “Ground Zero” in New York; musical performances. A vigil at 8 p.m. and military fly-over at 8:15 p.m are to close the exhibit, according to a university statement.

Col State 9/11 page.

GA firefighters will help mourn fallen brothers

Some Georgia firefighters will attend tomorrow’s funeral for nine firefighters killed in South Carolina. SavannahNow.com reports that 15 members of the Savannah Fire Department will go to Charleston. The funeral will honor 9 firefighters killed Monday while fighting a blaze at a furniture store in Charleston.