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Fire, police report spike in calls; fire department outlines burn permit rules
Summary
Fire and police leaders told the council October was unusually busy: the fire department said 2025 is on track to be its busiest year and reminded residents that the outdoor burn ban had been lifted but permits are required; Police Chief Kevin McGarrider reported dispatch calls were up by about 250 year‑over‑year and traffic citations rose substantially.
Chief Pat delivered the fire department update, saying October was an 'extremely busy month' with an above‑average number of fires and EMS incidents and increased automatic aid from neighboring jurisdictions. "Presently, we are on track to record more incident responses in 2025 than has occurred in the history of the department," he told the council, and reminded residents that while the outdoor burn ban is lifted, daily permitting is required through the fire department and Georgia Forestry must be contacted for large acreage burns.
Police Chief Kevin McGarrider told council dispatch calls were much higher than the previous year and that traffic‑enforcement activity had increased as well. "If you just look at our dispatch calls between this time and last year, it's almost over 250 more calls... Traffic citations, almost 4 times as many," McGarrider said. Both chiefs said staffing and interagency cooperation had been important to respond to the higher call volume.
