Agenda - 11-19-2007-1a - Laserfiche WebLink

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~D agreements with municipal fire departments, however no municipal fire department is contracted to provide explicit service to a rural area outside of its municipal jurisdiction. Many of the districts were established in the 1950s and 1960s before the office of the fire marshal was created and had State charters. Each department is funded by property taxes. The tax bases differ between counties. Each fire department makes a request and budget and sends it to the commissioners in order for the tax base to be determined. Catawba County Catawba County has 15 fore departments which serve the entire county. Each department serves 1 district, although departments have more than one station within the district. Of these 15 departments, 14 are in the County and 1 is outside the county but serves a rural district within Catawba. In addition, several of these departments are city fire departments; however they have contracts with the County to provide fire services in rural areas outside of the city limit. These city departments request revenue from the county to protect the rural fire districts. All fire departments in the County are tax based. There is a fire tax in addition to the property tax levied in each fire district. The average fire tax among the districts in Catawba is 5.5 cents per $100 property value. Each districts request rates from the board of county commissioners and the rates are decided during the budget process. 14 of the 15 district were established as a service district by the board of county commissioners and 1 of the districts was created through citizen petition and vote. "The Catawba County Fire Marshal's Office assists in coordinating fire department functions in the County, while keeping the Board of Commissioners informed of fire department activities by working with and through the Director of Emergency Services. The Fire Marshal's Office is responsible for conducting a regular fire inspection program of all public buildings to improve public safety." (Catawba County Emergency Services website) Iredell County Iredell County has 19 County fire districts and departments. Some of these departments have more then one station in a district. In addition, 5 of the districts are in more than 1 county. 2 cities in the County also have their own fire department. Each County district is the area within 6 road miles of a fire station. County volunteer fire departments are funded by a fire tax of 6 cent per $100 of property value (This tax was just raised in June 2007). The money levied by this tax is then distributed to the departments by the fire tax board. Three departments (not city departments) in Iredell or that serve part of Iredell are in fire-tax districts and do not share the County revenues. A fourth volunteer department is also trying to become part of a fire-tax district; this is up for election in the November 2007 election ("Troutman Fire Department" statesville.com). The office of the Fire Marshal consists of 2 Deputy Fire Marshals and 1 Program Assistant to insure that the North Carolina Fire Prevention Code (North Carolina Building Code Volume V) is enforced in the County limits. The role of the Fire Marshal includes prevention of loss of life and property due to hazardous materials, man-made hazards and other natural hazards. The Fire Marshal accomplishes these goals through the enforcement of national, state, and local fire codes and the provision of fire prevention and safety preparedness programs.