By Billy Davis

Funeral services will be held today at 3:30 at First Baptist Church in Batesville for Arthur Biggers, the long-serving fire chief of the Mt. Olivet Volunteer Fire Department.

Biggers, who was employed as a mechanic, passed away at his home September 11 following a brief illness. He was 47.

He leaves behind wife Deborah Biggers and daughter Ashley Nicole Biggers, both of Batesville, and son Brandon Andrew Powell of Glen, Miss.

“Arthur put his heart and soul into Mt. Olivet. He worked day and night,” said Gary Hartman, the fire department’s assistant chief.

Dozens of Panola County firefighters met Biggers as a rookie, when he would assemble a class of green horns then train them in a Level 1 basic course.

Biggers served as the county fire training instructor since 1991, said Emergency Management director Daniel Cole.

Many more Panola Countians remember Biggers for his heroism in 2001, when he was injured while pulling a homeowner from a house fire on Cold Springs Road.

The homeowner ran into the home to retrieve belongings and Biggers ran in after him. But the roof caved in, burning the fire chief severely on his arms and hands, and also on his neck and face.

Panola Countians quickly set up a relief fund for Biggers, who required extensive surgeries. That relief fund still exists today to help Panola firefighters who are injured in the line of duty.

Memorials for Biggers can be sent to the Panola County Firefighters Relief Fund at P.O. Box 86 in Batesville.