Miller County Rural Volunteer Fire Departments pledged to improve communications with County Judge Cathy Hardin Harrison.
The discussion became heated between about 50 firefighters and the county judge during the committee meeting Monday evening.
The verbal exchanges became emotional between some volunteer firefighters and Harrison, who became obviously frustrated with tears in her eyes.
After nearly an hour of discussions, committee chairman Rodney Watkins called for a meeting at 6 p..m. March 14 in the courthouse to discuss the firefighter handbook.
Harrison distributed a memo to mention the brief proposals regarding the volunteer fire department.
"I propose that Larry Pritchett be made fire chief of the Miller County Volunteer Fire Department," Harrison said. "This action would change the direction of the fire department and put our county on the path that would have transparency and accountability which has been needed for a very long time.
"This would bring a solid structure to the fire department and most certainly set our county on a path to lower our insurance rating. This would save homeowners hundreds of dollars on their insurances premiums per year.
"The sales tax has been collected in Miller County since 1989 and at that time we were a class 9. (one of the highest ratings). Since that time, the class has still not dropped, it is still class 9 in 2019. It's time for the Quorum Court to respond and support this move so the citizens of Miller County can get what they have been paying for the last three decades."
The firefighters last year had 1,200 calls, and 700 of those calls were medical emergencies, said Bill Ball, who is the chief of the Satellite Volunteer Fire Department.
Firefighters also brought into issue about the lack of communications.
Justice of the Peace John Haltom attended the meeting and urged the firefighters to improve their communications.
"Everybody needs to cool off," he said.
Haltom suggested the firefighter read and make recommendations regarding the firefighter workbook.