The Beaverdam Volunteer Fire Department will go independent, likely later this month, with the aim of reducing homeowner insurance costs in the area.
Beaverdam leadership notified Oglethorpe Consolidated Fire and Rescue of its plan to separate from the then-six-station alliance in June. The move was approved by a 3-1 vote with one abstention from the Oglethorpe County Board of Commissioners at the BOC meeting on July 1.
It is now awaiting certification of compliance from the Georgia Firefighter Standards & Training Council, which Beaverdam VFD Assistant Chief Cody Gibbs said he expects by the end of the month.
Gibbs said the decision to separate from Oglethorpe Consolidated Fire and Rescue was “purely administrative,” and will not impact the automatic aid agreements Beaverdam has with surrounding stations.
“Truly, the only thing that’s going to change,” he said, “is really ‘what (Fire Department Identifier) do we report to?’ ”
Fire stations in Crawford, Devil’s Pond, Pleasant Hill, Sandy Cross and Wolfskin are still part of Oglethorpe Consolidated Fire and Rescue.
When Beaverdam VFD joined Oglethorpe Consolidated Fire and Rescue in 2017, its Insurance Services Office Public Protection Classification (ISO PPC) went from a four to a six.
ISO PPC acts as a grade for fire departments across the country, with Class 1 being the best and Class 10 being the worst. It is reflected in homeowner insurance premiums.
“The leadership, the officers of Beaverdam, we will get calls, we’ll get emails a few times a month from residents throughout our district,” Gibbs said. “I think that they’re frustrated. They have questions. They want to know why their insurance is still a Class 6.”
Oglethorpe Consolidated Fire and Rescue’s ISO improved from a nine to a six when Beaverdam joined.
In 2023, 60 of 159 (38%) Georgia counties self-reported an ISO PPC of four or better to the Community Indicators & Government Management Indicators survey; only 22 counties (14%) self-reported a nine or worse.
Gibbs told the commission that Oglethorpe Consolidated Fire and Rescue is scheduled to have its next ISO review in September and Beaverdam VFD has requested its own review for November.
District 1 Commissioner Howard Sanders and District 4 Commissioner Will Brown raised concerns about the impact on the remaining stations in Oglethorpe Consolidated Fire and Rescue, especially ones in their districts.
Of the five remaining stations in Oglethorpe Consolidated Fire and Rescue, only Wolfskin is in Brown’s district. The Crawford station is in Sanders’ district.
Brown abstained from voting on giving approval to Beaverdam to separate. Sanders opposed the motion.
“I’m not going to vote for or against it until I know what happens to the other (stations in Oglethorpe Consolidated Fire and Rescue),” Brown said at the BOC meeting. “It sounds like a lot of the ones in my district could suffer.”