County News

“There’s really no such thing as a typical EMS call,” says Lafayette County Assistant Chief of EMS Toby Lafayette. In Lafayette County, EMS crews are dispatched to everything from chest pain and shortness of breath to car wrecks and cardiac arrests. Responders rarely know exactly what they’ll find on scene. Often information is sparse, and…

On a spring afternoon in Lafayette County, a fire engine pulls up to a smoking building. Inside, two victims are reported trapped. Without hesitation, a high school fire crew approaches the building. In minutes, the fire is out, and both “victims” are rescued. It’s only a simulation, but the skills and teamwork are real. The…

Casey Henderson started carrying his fire radio at 16. Shortly after his first fire call—which he responded to along with his dad and uncle, both volunteers on the force in Grenada, Miss.—he realized firefighting would be his life’s work. In those early days, Henderson admits, the radio was an excuse to occasionally rush out of…