City, county approve mutual aid agreement for fire services

Published 8:00 pm Tuesday, January 10, 2017

TIFTON, Ga. — The Tifton City Council and the Tift County Board of Commissioners both voted at their meetings Monday night to approve the mutual aid agreement for fire services first proposed at the beginning of the month. 

As a result, the city announced Tuesday it would drop its extrication services lawsuit.

The mutual aid agreement, the language of which was finalized after input from both City Fire Chief Mike Coleman and County Fire Chief Joey Fowler, allows for personnel from either the city or the county fire departments to provide “emergency care and intervention when either life or property is threatened,” regardless of whose jurisdiction the emergency is in, “provided notice of said emergency has been provided to the other jurisdiction.”

The agreement also allows both city and county fire departments to provide “equipment and personnel” to the other department upon request in the event of an emergency, provided doing so doesn’t endanger the department’s own fire defenses. The amount of equipment and personnel provided would be determined by the respective fire chiefs.

The city and county were involved in a lawsuit regarding extrication and rescue services performed inside the city limits by Tift County Fire and Rescue even though Tift County had terminated the inter-local agreement allowing those services.

The suit stated that, even though this agreement was terminated as of July 1, 2016, the county has continued to provide fire protection and emergency rescue services, specifically extractions, inside the city limits.

According to the suit, the Georgia Constitution states that no county may provide these services without a contract within the municipality or county affected.

The extrication issue was the basis of the lawsuit filed by the city in 2016 against the county for the prevention of duplication of extrication services inside the city limits without a contract. 

According to a press release issued from the office of the city manager, “The agreement provides that, upon request, the City of Tifton Fire Department and Tift County Fire and Rescue will provide additional resources, including equipment and personnel, to the other in the event of an emergency.”

The agreement also states that the city will perform extrication services within its municipal boundaries, with the county providing extrication services in the unincorporated areas of the county, Ty Ty and Omega.

According to the press release, the city “feels this agreement is a move in the right direction to effectively provide superior emergency services to the residents of the City of Tifton and Tift County, and additionally offer each other assistance when called upon.” 

“We are committed to working together with the county to resolve key issues that affect our community for the betterment of our citizens,” stated Tifton Mayor Julie Smith in the release.