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Chiefs Bobby Harris (left) and Jim Rich shake hands after Hopkins County Commissioners voted unanimously to combine the North Hopkins and South Sulphur Volunteer Fire Departments. Staff photo by Tammy Vinson
Move expected to provide better service to county
Commissioners Court
In their regular session Monday, the Hopkins County Commissioners Court approved a resolution to combine two volunteer fire departments in a move they believe will provide better service to Hopkins County.
The court approved a resolution to combine the North Hopkins and South Sulphur VFDs into a single entity to be known as North Hopkins-South Sulphur Volunteer Fire Department and led by current North Hopkins VFD Chief Bobby Harris. It will serve the northwestern portion of Hopkins County.
“If you’re sitting here and you’re not familiar with everything that goes on, you might say, ‘Why are you putting so much emphasis on volunteer fire departments?’ It’s because, if your house is on fire, you want them there five minutes ago. We have to have volunteers,” Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom said.
“With the tight money and the availability of volunteers, it’s a tough program to lead,” said South Sulphur VFD Chief Jim Rich. “Bobby “[Harris] and I [sic] working together, we’ll pool our resources and be able to do more for the community. Ultimately that’s what it’s about.”
“We just want to help our communities,” Chief Harris said, “and if we can do this by putting [the departments] together and serve the community, that’s what it’s about. By combining these two stations, we hope we can serve the communities of Peerless, Emblem and North Hopkins better, more efficiently and utilize our apparatuses to the best ability we can, and therefore help our neighbors.”
The change was effective upon approval of the resolution. Plans for a substation are under development.