Volunteer firefighters and residents challenge countycity fire protection agreement amid safety, funding concerns

David Baker, a volunteer firefighter and longtime resident, told the Adams County Board of Supervisors at its regular meeting that wording in a proposed interlocal agreement with the City of Natchez would alter the practical relationship between volunteer departments and municipal fire resources and could harm protection for rural residents.

Baker said the agreement—an annual interlocal arrangement the board reviews and signs—appears to date from the 1990s and does not reflect current conditions, training levels or equipment needs. He urged the board to use rebate and insurance funds to support volunteer stations and to renegotiate any provision that he said would limit volunteersability to act on arrival. "This document basically does away with that with some of the wording in it," Baker said, adding that language describing volunteers as having to "be so boring to hatch…