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County OKs new fire district maps
By Justin Goble
County commissioners Monday night (Oct. 20) unanimously approved new fire district maps.
According to Fire Marshal Alan Farmer, the new maps were created using global-positioning system technology and distance-measuring instruments. They will be a vast improvement over the old district maps, he said.
“Before, we just used old road maps to help define the districts,” he said. “Those weren’t very accurate and it led to a lot of head scratching as to what district a piece of land would belong in.”
The new maps will be a benefit for many county residents as well, Farmer said. The new maps have placed many homes in districts of fire departments that are actually closer, which will help bring down the homeowners’ insurance rates.
“According the N.C. Department of Insurance, houses are only considered ‘protected’ if they are within a 6-mile driving distance from a station,” he said. “Anything out of that area is considered ‘unprotected.’ I hate using that term, because we’ll be at any house even if it’s outside of that 6-mile radius. But the Department of Insurance won’t give them the same price break as the people who are in that radius.
“By changing Blanton Branch from Sylva’s district to Balsam’s, we’re able to go an eighth of a mile farther up that road and get people that ‘protected’ status,” Farmer said. “Qualla will take over Barkers Creek, which will allow us to go .7 miles more up that road. The biggest gain will be Dicks Creek. By moving that to the Qualla district, we’ll be able to take 1.2 miles into that ‘protected’ area.”
Commissioners’ Chairman Brian McMahan asked Farmer what kind of reduction in insurance rates some residents would see under the new maps. Farmer replied that the figure would vary.
“It really depends on the company,” he said. “Some insurance companies will give people a price break if they are just outside of that radius. Some won’t. But with this we’ve put a lot more people under that ‘protected’ status, which gives them a break on their insurance. We don’t have any final numbers, but we’re estimating those people will have a cost savings in the neighborhood of 20 percent.”
Officials are still updating the new maps, with the project to be completed sometime in the near future, Farmer said. While copies of the maps are currently available at the Justice Center, Farmer said he hopes to have them available online once the project is complete.
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