Quote Originally Posted by moochopper View Post
This may be irrelevant but how does one become the CHIEF of the fire department at that age? (my husband even thought this was weird)
Quote Originally Posted by cady View Post
It is a volunteer department so I don't know. The "chief" is only 22 I think. Maybe he apprenticed or something. No idea what his credentials are. JMO
Quote Originally Posted by moochopper View Post
I thought I read that he was only 19?
HMMM I do not know his age. JMO His name is Cole Haley. JMO
JC was 19 years old, but imo Fire Chief Cole Haley looks to be late 20s or early 30s.
While doing some research, I ran across some very interesting information concerning Fire Deaths in Panola, County, MS from 2007. Panola County’s fire deaths in 2007 lead Mississippi’s 82 counties. Mississippi lead the Nation in fire deaths in the year 2007..
http://www.panolian.com/contentitem/12059/1180/fire-death
Fire Death 11/30/2007
Child’s death makes No. 9 in county
Paramedics and the Panola County coroner’s office retrieved the child’s body at about 10:45.
Justin Maples, a fire investigator for the sheriff’s department, said a preliminary investigation conducted Wednesday showed the fire likely began “somewhere in the living room area” of the home.
“A lot of times the problem is that the evidence gets burned up,” he said. “We may never know what happened,” Maples said.
Sheriff’s fire investigators were set to interview family members Thursday, he said.
“The homeowner said there smoke detectors in the home. We found remnants of one,” Cole said.
Panola County’s rash of 2007 fire fatalities started on February 14, when a house fire on Edwards Road just outside of Sardis claimed the lives of two people.
The third fire fatality came when a motorist perished in a vehicle fire near Longtown.
A Como house fire Claimed the life of Michael Wood Haley on July 17, marking the fourth fire fatality. Just 10 days later, two children and two adults perished in a mobile home fire on Cotton Plant Road, west of Batesville.
Panola County’s fire deaths in 2007 currently lead Mississippi’s 82 counties. Mississippi also leads the nation in fire-related deaths.
In response to Panola’s fire deaths, smoke detectors have been purchased via a grant and will be distributed to homes throughout the county.
“We received a grant that totalled $25,000 and actually purchased 1,300 smoke detectors with the grant,” Cole said. The smoke detectors will likely be distributed to fire departments across the county for dispersal, he said.
The county also submitted a grant for fire safety and prevention funded through homeland security. The grant was submitted Monday, just prior to the Friday deadline.
The grant, if awarded, could give the county over a quarter of a million dollars to provide a smoke detector for every home in the county.
In earlier fire fatalities this year, however, the absence of smoke detectors was a common denominator in many of the fires.
Despite the tragedy Wednesday, Cole noted the “tremendous response” of Panola County’s volunteer firefighters, especially since many were at work when the fire was reported.
Firefighters responded from Bynum, Mt. Olivet, Sardis Lower Lake, Courtland, and Batesville fire departments.
