NATCHEZ — The City of Natchez has 60 days to make a plan to remedy deficiencies at the Natchez Fire Department or face a drop in the city’s fire insurance rating.

The city received a letter this week regarding a recent survey of the city’s fire protection by the Mississippi State Rating Bureau (MSRB), which grades municipalities and fire districts for fire insurance rating purposes.

Natchez Mayor Grennell and Fire Chief Aaron Wesley reviewed the letter with the Natchez Board of Aldermen at its Tuesday finance committee meeting prior to its regular meeting.

The letter states the city no longer warrants its current rating of 5 and outlines improvements that need to be made in order for the city to maintain its 5 rating.

Fire ratings are evaluated every five years and are graded on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the best rating.

When fire ratings drop, insurance rates for residents increase, and in some cases, those increases are significant, Wesley said.

“We do not want that to happen,” Wesley said before the meeting. “If we go down to a 6 … a lot of people are going to be hollering and upset about their insurance. That’s why I am fighting to make sure we stay at a 5.”

In order to keep the current rating, the Natchez Fire Department has to provide a minimum of 18 firefighters on duty at all times. That would allow three firefighters for each of the department’s five engines and one ladder truck.

The fire department currently has 15 firefighters for its three 24-hour shifts and would need three more per shift to fulfill the MSRB criteria.

NFD has historically counted its battalion chiefs, which supervise each shift, in the required number of firefighters, but MRSB excludes counting battalion chiefs toward the minimum requirement.

Wesley has been grappling with turnover at the fire department and has attributed much of the loss to firefighters who leave NFD for higher-paying jobs.

Wesley also expressed concern to the aldermen that with a short-staffed department that covers the entire county, the city could be left unprotected when the department makes a run outside of the city limits.

Wesley proposed to the aldermen an 11-percent raise for firefighters while presenting his requested budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The city is scheduled to adopt a budget Sept. 13.

The raise would bring the firefighters starting salary from approximately $24,000 to approximately $27,000.

“I know it seems like a lot,” Wesley said.

Even with the raise, though, Natchez firefighters would still make less than if they worked for other area fire departments, Wesley said.

MSRB also lists improving and maintaining a “vigorous training program” for all firefighters as a requirement to keep the city’s fire rating at 5.

Training should include day and night training drills at training facilities, daily drills, classes at the fire stations and equipment instruction. Good records should also be kept of the training sessions, the MSRB letter states.

MSRB said in its letter that facilities need to be provided for firefighter training and noted that an NFD training facility is currently under construction.

A new ladder truck to replace NFD’s current 1992 truck is also needed, and Wesley said he has started the process to explore the city’s options for purchasing a truck.

The MSRB letter states the reliability of “fire apparatus is a major concern. … It should be kept in mind that fire department apparatus becomes the firefighter’s lifeline in the process of fighting a structural fire.”

Yearly tests of the fire department’s pumpers should also be conducted, with records of those tests kept, the MSRB letter states.

Grennell, the aldermen and Wesley reviewed the general state of the fire department at the meeting, with discussion about solutions to problems concerning a bird infestation at one of the departments to replacing furniture in “deplorable condition.”

Grennell noted to the aldermen that the city has 60 days to respond to MSRB with a plan of how the city will address the improvements that need to be made.

The aldermen took Wesley’s request for raises under advisement, saying they would review raises toward the end of the budgeting process.

The board is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. today to hear budget requests from other department heads.