NATCHEZ — Adams County officials say more volunteer firefighters could extinguish the possibility of paying a costly penalty to the City of Natchez.

The agreement, which went into effect Oct. 1, 2013, sets an Aug. 1 deadline for county calls for NFD to be reduced to 25 percent of total calls to which NFD responds.

The county faces a penalty of approximately $19,000 for every 5 percent over the 25-percent goal for any successive year that the actual response exceeds the target response.

That means if 30 percent of NFD’s total calls for the 2014-2015 fiscal year are outside the city limits, the county will have to pay the city a fee of $19,000 — or 3 percent of the total contract cost. The penalty increases for every 5 percent over the target of 25 percent.

Since October, fire calls outside the city limits have averaged approximately 42 percent, NFD records indicate.

The agreement was forged last year after city and county leaders debated over the amount of funds the county should pay the city for fire protection services. The county only has a volunteer fire program, so the city provides professional, full-time fire protection throughout the county.

Natchez Fire Chief Oliver Stewart said a big factor affecting the high number of county calls is an abundance of grass and brush fires to which his crews are dispatched.

Stewart said if grass and brush fires calls could be reduced or eliminated the percentage of county fire calls would be greatly reduced.

From October through February, 86 of NFD’s 206 calls were outside the city limits. Of those 86 calls, 22 were brush or grass fires.

If all of the brush and grass fires had been handled solely by volunteer firefighters, the average total percentage of calls outside the city limits would drop from 42 percent to approximately 35 percent since October..

Adams County Board of Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said a challenge the county is facing is that dispatchers call NFD first to respond to grass and brush fires.

“It’s always our volunteer stations that are the last ones to be informed,” Grennell said. “There needs to be a protocol in place so that the volunteer stations (are) dispatched … and if it gets out of hand, they can call (NFD) for backup. But a lot of those little basic calls, the volunteers could handle.”

Grennell said he is concerned the county may have to pay a penalty for exceeding the 25-percent target.

“But we’re working toward it diligently,” he said.

Without recruiting more volunteers, though, Emergency Management Director Stan Owens said any other challenges the county faces with fire protection would not matter.

“The main thing is getting more volunteers,” he said. “Everything else is a moot point without the volunteers to do the job.

“We just don’t have enough. There’s no number that would be too many. Countywide, you probably have a good solid 15 that you can count on.”

Adams County Volunteer Fire Coordinator Darryl Smith said a handful of volunteers have been recruited since June.

The county created Smith’s position to help foster volunteer growth at approximately $38,000, which is Smith’s salary.

Smith said he has been out meeting with county residents and encouraging them to sign up as volunteer firefighters.

“We have a few that are promising they will,” he said.

“It’s not about one person; it’s about the whole community,” he said. “We need everybody to come out and help.”

Mayor Butch Brown said he is concerned if calls outside the city limits are not reduced it will cost the city money.

“I have concerns that (the county’s) efforts to reduce calls have not materialized,” he said. “It’s a real challenge to operate fire protection for the whole county on a city budget.”

The county has paid the city for fire protection since 1994, and under the current agreement, the county pays the city approximately $626,000 annually.

The county also agreed to provide a fire truck for the city under the current agreement and has applied for a grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide the funding.

Grennell said he recently met with Sen. Thad Cochran and Sen. Roger Wicker and staff members who work for Rep. Gregg Harper in Washington, D.C., about funding for the truck.

“Hopefully, they will encourage that grant to happen,” he said.

Grennell said the county is working to meet its fire protection goals and is optimistic it will happen

“The county is working diligently to make sure we achieve our goal in order to work out our fire protection,” he said. “We’re hoping we can sort out the (dispatcher issue) and get it handled.”