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Firefighters tell commissioners to butt out Members of the Clarke County Firefighters Association refused to discredit any of their peers last week and said the county association can best police itself without the assistance of Clarke County Commissioners. The small meeting room of the Alabama Forestry Commission office in Grove Hill last Thursday was packed beyond capacity with representatives from most of the county's 14 volunteer fire departments. Perhaps the reason for the good attendance was news stories that suggested that the Jackson Fire Department responded to unanswered calls by the Alma Fire Department that could have burned several houses. There were even allegations that the Alma fire trucks wouldn't crank to get to the fires. Jackson Fire Chief Neal Bradley said, "The report that was in the papers is completely incorrect. Alma did have problems in the past but they have been taking care of themselves." Bradley said that a brush fire call did go unanswered by the Alma department and that Jackson firemen did respond as is customary by what he called a "mutual aid agreement." He said Alma's fire chief told him that he does have trouble getting help sometimes but Bradley said that Alma has been answering its own calls well over the past two years. He said Jackson answered the call to a brush fire when Alma was unable to just as other departments would come to Jackson's assistance if needed. Walt Pope, the county firefighters association president who was re-elected at the meeting said, "If there are problems, we need to put everything on the table. If we have a problem it shouldn't be the problem of the [county] commission. We need to govern ourselves." County Commission Chairman Paul Bradford responded that he'd like to see the group have a plan in place for policing itself and to perhaps make annual inspections of fire trucks and other equipment. "We want to work together to provide better fire protection and to make sure the tax dollars allocated for fire protection are spent well," Bradford said. Also at the meeting were commissioners Rhondel Rhone and Joe Hunt. Ivy Griffin of WJDB had brought up the allegations of Alma's unresponsiveness at last week's commission meeting, relaying accusations made by an Alma resident. Griffin was not at the firefighters' meeting but one fireman complained of the radio man, "He's just trying to stir the pot." Bradley complimented the departments and said that the several rural departments that have been formed over the past years are a big help in protecting the county. He said when there were only fire departments in Jackson, Grove Hill, Thomasville and Coffeeville it was hard for those departments to cover the rural county. Now, response times have been cut greatly because there are more departments.
The association welcomed representatives of the county's newest department, Tallahatta- Opine, to the meeting and maps showing the revised 14 fire districts were presented.
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