Orange County NC Website
~ <br />commissioners must hold a public hearing before adopting the final resolution which creates the <br />district. In order to establish a district, it is necessary tha.t a11 of the following apply: <br />• Demonstrable need <br />• It is impossible or impractical to provide those services on a countywide basis <br />• It is economically feasible to provide those services to the district without unreasonable <br />taxes <br />• Demonstrable demand in the district (153A-302(al)) <br />A special district only for fire services may also be ta~ced, by resolution from the boazd of county <br />commissioners under G.S. 153A-309, to provide emergency medical, rescue, and ambulance <br />services. Under G.S. 153A-307, the county may ievy additional property taxes in the service area <br />to finance the service as well as use unrestricted money from the general funds. In addition, the <br />board of county commissioners can adopt a resolution within the first 90 days before the public <br />hearing to create the service district to limit the service tax to 15 cents per $100 of property (G.S. <br />153A-309.2). Overall, the service district and county tax may not exceed $1.50 per $100 of <br />property value (G.S. 153A-307). <br />Insurance Districts <br />Under G.S. 153A-233, the board of county commissioners may designate rural fire districts as <br />insurance districts. In this case, the board of commissioners set boundaries for insurance-grading <br />purposes. These districts are served by a rural fire department but are not supported by a specific <br />district tax. One advantage of creating an insurance district is that property owners may receive <br />reduced fire insurance rates if the district is approved. In order to provide fire protection for these <br />districts, the county generally contracts with a volunteer or city fire deparkment and pays for this <br />protection with unrestricted general funds. <br />County and rural fire departments, communications, and water supplies are evalua.ted by the <br />Office of the State Fire Marshal on a scale of 1 to 10 for insurance purposes. Property insurance <br />rates in the jurisdiction of a fire department with a 9 rating will be the highest and 1 will be the <br />lowest. A rating of 10 considers that jurisdiction to have no fire protection. To achieve a 9S (9) <br />ra.ting, several requirements must be met, including the fire department must be incorporated, a <br />fire station must be within 5 road miles of the property, and the department must have a <br />minimum of 20 personnel (18 designated as firefighters). A complete list of these requirements <br />can be found at hrip•/lwww ncdoi.com/OSFM/RUDocuments/9S Requirement.pdf. <br />Training, Prevention, and Inspection <br />The State Fire and Rescue Commission, part of the North Carolina Department of Insurance, <br />establishes minimum qualifications for fire and rescue service personnel. Firefighters may go <br />through a voluntary certification program in which the performance standards are based on the <br />National Fire Protection Administra.tion (NFPA) standards (G.S. 58-78). In addition, individual <br />departments may require addition training or certification. <br />The fire prevention code is part of the North Carolina State building Code. Local governments <br />are responsible for enforcing this code and administering prevention programs. In general, fire <br />inspectors are responsible to enforce to code. These inspectors must go through the certification <br />requirements of the North Carolina Code Officials Qualification Board and can work from a <br />variety of place including a municipal fire deparlment, inspection department, or development <br />department. <br />