Mathiston Volunteer Fire Department knows how to stretch a budget. Its latest acquisition, a quick-response vehicle, is a terrific example. It began as a flatbed truck that was purchased from the Mississippi Forestry Commission’s Surplus Department.
“We were on a waiting list for a long time. So long that we started refitting an older truck. We had a lot of help locally, with W.W. Sly Manufacturing building a tank and Jamie’s Body Shop in Maben helping us, and all of us pitching in,” explained Chief Lee Gilliland. “Two months after we got that one completed, we got the call that Forestry Surplus had a truck for us.”
Gilliland met with the volunteer staff to determine if they wanted to tackle another project so quickly. The group felt that it was essential to help move the community ahead, so the process went forward.
The 2007 Ford F-450 is four-wheel drive and has a diesel engine. Both the engine, the four-wheel drive component and the rear end needed replacing.
“A small part of the premium that individuals pay for insurance comes back to the local fire departments,” Gilliland said. “We have been holding that money for years in hopes of it growing large enough to help. This was the time.”
Four-County Electric Power Association has a “Roundup” program; it rounds the cents on an individual’s bill up to the next dollar and that money funds useful programs in the area through the 4-County Foundation. The department applied for an $8,000 grant from the foundation and got it.
“I would encourage anyone who doesn’t participate in the Roundup program 4-County has to do so,” he said. “That was a key to our getting the grant to make this work.”
Another grant came from the U.S Forestry Service. That helped provide a professional skid unit, which supplies both foam and water for extinguishing fires. In rural areas, that helps stretch the capacity.
“If you purchased it new, this truck would cost about $125,000,” Gilliland explained. “With the work we put into this and the resources the community contributed, we were able to do it for $40,000.”
Tom Booth, assistant chief, said the size of the vehicle makes it easier to get to the scene of the fire and begin work while waiting on the big truck to arrive.
The Mathiston Volunteer Fire Department has 31 total members, with 23 active volunteers. Eight members are inactive and one trainee is part of the department.
Booth said the agency responds to about 170 fires per year, some of them structural and some grass.
