By Jeff Hampton
The Virginian-Pilot
CURRITUCK, Va. — Insurance costs for many Currituck County homes will drop by more than $2,000 annually after local fire departments received their best state ratings ever.
The new rates come after inspectors determined that local departments had trucks, equipment, trained volunteers and water pressure, among other things, to better respond to fires. New rates will take effect Nov. 1.
This is the biggest jump in mainland department ratings. For many years, Currituck’s volunteer departments remained unrated. But units have gradually added fire trucks, equipment and trained volunteers. Eventually, departments were rated 9, the first level that allows for discounts on homeowners’ insurance.
“A lot of people don’t realize what the departments had to do to scrape and scrounge ... to get where we are today,” said Chris Dailey, chief of the Crawford Township Volunteer Fire Department .
The Crawford department improved from a rating of 9 to a rating of 6 , which drops annual insurance rates on a $200,000 wood-frame home from $4,647 to $2,446, according to a breakdown by the North Carolina Office of the State Fire Marshal .
The Moyock and Lower Currituck departments rose from ratings of 9 to ratings of 7, for an insurance savings of $1,589 annually. Corolla already had a rating of 6. The Carova and Knotts Island stations will remain at 9.
Stations are rated after inspections every three to five years by the Office of the State Fire Marshall, Dailey said. Higher ratings cover homes within five miles of the station or within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant.
But a county effort to install more fire hydrants could draw from money needed to replace aging fire trucks, making it tough to hold on to the new ratings, Daily said.
“Now that we’ve got the 6, we’ve got to be able to feed the 6,” Dailey said.
The county increased the annual budget of every mainland department and Carova to $253,665. Corolla’s budget fell from more than $1 million to $375,124 after the county took over operation of some services. Budgets used to be divided according to each department’s request and need, but this year departments evenly split $1.5 million.
Corolla got more to pay for medical services not financed by the county, said Rick Galganski, Corolla fire chief . By next year, the county plans to staff all medical services, and Corolla’s budget will fall to the level of other departments, according to the budget.
Leftover money is supposed to be returned to a large fire-equipment fund at the end of the year. That money could be used to install more fire hydrants and larger water lines, mean ing reduced insurance for more homes , said Barry Nelms, chairman of the Currituck County Board of Commissioners. Each hydrant could cost $5,000, and that’s without having to expand the water line by at least 6 inches, Nelms said.
“We’re asking them to spend only what they need for their fire department,” he said. “We’re going to put the extra back into the pockets of people who need help to lower their insurance bill.”
But fire departments wanted to set aside extra money for buying trucks, Dailey said. Some trucks are more than 20 years old, he said.
The county allots $253,000 annually toward fire -truck and equipment purchases countywide. The oldest trucks get replaced first. New trucks can cost $300,000 or more.
Currituck’s fire departments are staffed with a total of about 260 volunteers. A state study showed that a paid fire department staff countywide would cost $11.4 million annually, Dailey said.
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