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The volunteer fire departments are State chartered, private, non-profit corporations that <br />have contracts with the County to provide fire protection services. The fire districts are <br />tax supported. The County collects the tax for each department and the Finance <br />Director distributes the monies in accordance with the terms of the contract. Each <br />district also has an insurance district for insurance grading purposes. The insurance <br />districts are 5 mile districts at the present time; residents and businesses that are within <br />5 road miles of the fire station(s) within the district receive insurance premiums based on <br />the rating of the district. <br />Alamance County <br />All of the county fire departments in Alamance County are a combination of volunteer <br />and paid. There are 11 County fire districts with one department operating in each <br />district. These departments may have substations within the district. In addition, the <br />County has mutual aid agreements with municipal fire departments, however no <br />municipal fire department is contracted to provide explicit service to a rural area outside <br />of its municipal jurisdiction. <br />Many of the districts were established in the 1950s and 1960s before the office of the fire <br />marshal was created and had State charters. Each department is funded by property <br />taxes. The tax bases differ between counties. Each fire department makes a request <br />and budget and sends it to the commissioners in order for the tax base to be <br />determined. <br />Catawba County <br />Catawba County has 15 fire departments which serve the entire county. Each <br />department serves 1 district, although departments have more than one station within <br />the district. Of these 15 departments, 14 are in the County and 1 is outside the county <br />but serves a rural district within Catawba. In addition, several of these departments are <br />city fire departments; however they have contracts with the County to provide fire <br />services in rural areas outside of the city limit. These city departments request revenue <br />from the county to protect the rural fire districts. <br />All fire departments in the County are tax based. There is a fire tax in addition to the <br />property tax levied in each fire district. The average fire tax among the districts in <br />Catawba is 5.5 cents per $100 property value. Each districts request rates from the <br />board of county commissioners and the rates are decided during the budget process. 14 <br />of the 15 district were established as a service district by the board of county <br />commissioners and 1 of the districts was created through citizen petition and vote. <br />"The Catawba County Fire Marshal's Office assists in coordinating fire department <br />functions in the County, while keeping the Board of Commissioners informed of fire <br />department activities by working with and through the Director of Emergency Services. <br />The Fire Marshal's Office is responsible for conducting a regular fire inspection program <br />of all public buildings to improve public safety." (Catawba County Emergency Services <br />website) <br />Iredell County <br />Iredell County has 19 County fire districts and departments. Some of these departments <br />have more then one station in a district. In addition, 5 of the districts are in more than 1 <br />