Rep. Creekmore: Continued loss of volunteer firefighters could trigger fire insurance rate hike

JACKSON— Dist. 14 State Rep. Sam Creekmore — who co-authored House Bill 521 with Dist. 89 State Rep. Donnie Scoggin—said this week the bill will help combat what he said is a sharp drop in the number of volunteer firefighters in the state by establishing a financial benefits package for them.

The bill — termed LoSAP legislation — is designed to help retain volunteer firefighters without taxpayer funds.

Program costs would be funded through the fire insurance premium tax, he said this week.

LoSAP stands for the Mississippi Length of Service Award Program.

Retaining volunteer firefighters is a dollars and cents issue: "If the number of volunteer firefighters continues to fall, residents and businesses in the state could see their fire insurance premiums increase because of a decline in fire protection," Rep. Creekmore said.

The bill is now in the Insurance Subcommittee. If passed out of that committee, it would go to the Appropriations Subcommittee.

If approved by that subcommittee, it would go before the full House, where a simple majority vote would send it to the Senate for consideration.

If passed there, it would establish the Mississippi Length of Service Award Program and take effect July 1 of this year, Rep. Creekmore said.

"We need this legislation to encourage those who want to be volunteer firefighters to sign up, and those who are signed up to continue to stay," he said this week.

Rep. Creekmore said there are now about 9,000 active volunteer firefighters in the state. That's not adequate for the state's needs: "We need 12,000," he said.

"We're seeing about a 30-percent drop in that 9,000 number, as documented by the Department of Insurance, which keeps up with the numbers," he said this week.

He said the drop is caused by lack of incentives and people working to make ends meet.

He said the struggle to keep an adequate number of firefighters in the state is an ongoing problem that worsens every year.

Other states suffering similar retention issues are offering similar incentives or legislation, he said.

Rep. Creekmore said because of their volunteer status, there are few benefits or financial incentives to recruit or retain volunteer firefighters.

"The state needs to offer this program, or one like it, because a 30-percent drop in the number of volunteer firefighters in this state is scary.

"I'm afraid that shortage may be exposed if there's a tragedy. Then what happens?" he said this week.

Similar to a retirement program, LOSAP is designed to retain and reward volunteer firefighters financially for their service to the community.

The longer they stay the greater the benefits, he said this week.

Under the program:

—Participants must be registered volunteer firefighters with the state.

—They must earn a minimum number of points annually to continue to quality for the program and earn financial incentives.

Those points can come from training courses, drills, station duties, serving in elected or appointed positions, attending meetings, participation in department responses, and teaching or participating in fire prevention classes or programs.

The money will come from the County Fire Rebate Fund according to Rep. Scoggin.

Per the bill, 521, the funds will come from the fire insurance premium tax. There's a diversion that comes out of that, under which the fire rebate funds are provided to the counties and municipalities. These would be funds that would come from that same fire insurance premium tax that's already in place, Rep. Scoggin has said.

It's not a new tax, it's dollars that are already there and this is just basically putting some of those dollars to work for this program, the representative said.

The incentives would be as follows:

—$500 per calendar year to qualifying volunteers who meet minimum points requirements.

—The money would remain in individual accounts. After 20 years, a qualifying volunteer firefighter could retire with a one-time defined contribution of $10,000 plus interest earned for their years of service.

Validation would be done through a mandatory compliance reporting system established with the Mississippi Department of Insurance.

Creekmore, a Republican, has represented Dist. 14 since 2020. He is believed to be the first landscape architect elected to the Mississippi Legislature.