The city of Vicksburg has several fire stations in close proximity to each other and overlapping coverage areas, according to a Central Mississippi Planning and Development District study of the location of the city’s fire stations to determine if any stations should be closed or relocated for better effectiveness.

The 30-page study and Mayor George Flaggs Jr.’s recommendations for the fire department will be discussed by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and Fire Chief Charles Atkins at a Monday work session, which will also include a discussion of the Mayor’s proposed changed to the city charter.

The 9 a.m. meeting, which is open to the public, will be broadcast live on TV23, the city’s public access cable channel.

Flaggs has previously discussed proposed changes in the fire department to reduce the city’s fire insurance rating, improve equipment and reduce firefighter overtime with Atkins and the board.

He is expected to propose 10 recommendations for the fire department.

“These recommendations are the result of the study and me visiting with (Superintendent of Public Protection for the state Rating Bureau) Ty Windham last week,” Flaggs said. The visit with Windham was the result of a Jan. 25, 2012 letter from Windham to Atkins outlining deficiencies involving water valve maintenance, manpower and training that could affect the city’s Class 5 fire rating. Vicksburg, Flaggs said, “Is not in jeopardy of losing its Class 5 fire rating.”

North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield declined to comment on the recommendations until Monday, saying he wanted to discuss the proposal with Flaggs.

“I’m open to any measure we can take to save money and help the fire department be more efficient,” South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson said.

Vicksburg has seven fire stations. Three of them, Central, Station 6 and Station 7, according to the CMPDD study, are within a 1.5-mile radius of each other, and part of a group of six stations that overlap in one service area.

“An overlap of three stations might seem cause for concern, but when four to six stations overlap in a significantly large area, it indicates some stations are too close together,” according to the report, which recommends relocating Stations 6 and 8.

“We’re duplicating coverage by having Central (Walnut Street), 6 (Cherry Street) and 7 (South Washington Street) in close proximity,” Flaggs said.

Flaggs wants to close Station 7 by Oct. 1 and make it a museum, and build a new fire/rescue station on Clay Street near Interstate 20 by 2017 to have quicker response to accidents on I-20. A station in the Clay Street/I-20 area has been discussed previously

Atkins, who Flaggs said has not seen the CMPDD study, said most of the mayor’s recommendations have been discussed before.

He said closing Station 7 would increase manpower at another stations, “But at the same time, dealing with what we have, my suggestion would be to wait until we build a station.”

“To close a station in a particular area down, it has to be done to a point where people see something else happening — some type of real progress,” he said. “But to close a station and say we don’t have a station being built, I think is going to cause a little problem.”

Atkins agrees the city needs a station in the northeast part of the city.

“My thinking behind that is if we put a station up, it’s going to have to be a station that’s heavy rescue for the highway, and EMS situations and a pumping situations. All those things will have to be covered in that area,” he said.

Flaggs agrees with a CMPDD recommendation to possibly relocate Station 6 at the intersection of East Clay Street, I-20 and U.S. 80, but said he may consider closing it. He said Windham told him the city’s rating would not be affected if the city closed two stations.

Atkins questions Flaggs’ suggestion of having a combination ladder/pumper/rescue truck and an ambulance at the proposed Clay Street site. Atkins has proposed the city purchase a quint truck, a truck that can perform the functions of a pumper, water truck, hose truck, aerial device, and ladder truck, as a way to backup the department’s aerial trucks.

A quint truck, he said, is not built to serve as a rescue truck.

“We have to have a pumper in every station (under state regulations),” Atkins said. “What we would have to have is a big rescue unit and use our smaller unit to supplement the runs in the city on smaller roads.”

Atkins and Flaggs both proposed possibly combining Stations 7 and 8. Atkins suggested a site on one of the frontage roads. Flaggs proposed South Frontage Road, or a CMPDD recommendation to put it at the intersection of Cain Ridge Road, Roseland Drive and Halls Ferry Road.

Besides making changes with the fire stations, Flaggs wants to lower the age for applicants to the fire department from 21 to 19 and increase the salary for beginning firefighters.

Thompson agrees.

“I believe in lowering it to 18,” he said. “It will help us in the long run with our recruitment process.”

Atkins said lowering the age for beginning firefighters will have to be approved by the Civil Service Commission, which oversees the police and fire department hiring process. He said it is hard to get people to apply for a position “when you’ve got businesses like Hobby Lobby paying $12 to $14 an hour.”

If the city can implement his recommendations, correct the problems of preventive maintenance on water valves, increase the number of firefighters per truck and meet training regulations, Flaggs said, “I believe we can move up to a Class 4 by 2016.”