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Fire Services Development

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Mission of Fire Services Development
Fire Services Development Contact Information

Mission of Fire Services Development

The Mississippi Legislature created Fire Services Development in 1988 to carry out two principal functions:

Provide accountability for approximately $20 million in state fire protection funds distributed annually to Mississippi’s counties and municipalities. Miss. Code Ann. § 83-1-37 and 83-1-39.
Provide guidance to the state’s fire service to assist in the enhancement of and accelerate the growth of fire protection capabilities throughout the State, particularly in rural areas. Miss. Code Ann. § 17-23-1.

Since 1995, Fire Services Development has administered the Rural Fire Truck Acquisition Assistance Program (RFTAAP), which provides matching fund grants up to $90,000 for fire truck purchases in rural areas. All counties have received these grants. Over 1,000 fire trucks have been purchased through this program and furnished to communities resulting in at least 1.3 million citizens across the state benefitting from the program.

State agencies and policy makers now have information about fire services and related public expenditures. This program established state purchase contracts that have reduced costs of fire equipment for the State's 752 fire departments. Most of the 13,000 plus volunteer firefighters, as well as many career firefighters are beneficiaries of the various insurance coverage brought about through Fire Services Development program activities.

In addition, the Division is responsible for the management and administration of the State’s incident reporting system, MS ELITE. This system is utilized by the Division to analyze incident data, identify fire service trends and develop both short and long-term solutions aimed towards improving fire service capabilities throughout the State.

Brad Smith - State Fire Coordinator

Brad Smith joined the MS State Fire Marshal’s Office in November 2009 as the State Deputy Fire Coordinator. In July 2014 he was promoted to the position of State Fire Coordinator. Prior to joining the Fire Marshal’s Office, he served as the County Fire Coordinator and Emergency Management Director for Chickasaw county for 20 years and was a member of the Houston Fire Department from 1983 – 2009. Brad currently serves as Mississippi’s representative to the National Fire Information Council. He also serves on the boards of the Mississippi Burn Camp Foundation and the Mississippi Fire Fighter’s Association. He has accumulated over 900 hours of training through the MS State Fire Academy and is a graduate of the Mississippi Executive Fire Officer program.

Reed Abraham - State Deputy Fire Coordinator

Reed Abraham joined the Mississippi Fire Marshal’s Office in July of 2023 as the State Deputy Fire Coordinator. Prior to joining the Fire Marshal’s Office, he worked in higher education administration, fundraising, and marketing for more than 15 years at both two and four-year colleges in the State of Mississippi. He taught and authored more than 20 college courses primarily in the business administration discipline. Abraham earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Delta State University. He has a long history of volunteer fire service having joined the Bolivar County Volunteer Fire Department in 2000 where he retired in 2023 as the County Deputy Fire Chief. He is a certified volunteer firefighter and a member of the Mississippi Firefighters and Fire Chiefs Associations.