Substantial insurance savings expected
A new fire station on Airport Road will help the Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department respond quicker to some areas and could save insurance money for more than 500 homeowners and businesses.
Station 6 opened last week in a former RV storage building owned by the airport, according to Chief Cole Robbins. The plan has been in the works for several years, officials said.
“We’re proud we could finally get this in place,” Robbins said. “This will provide us with quicker response and save the residents nearby a lot of money on their insurance costs.”
Tri-Community still plans to move forward with plans it had discussed last year of putting a referendum on the ballot to charge additional property taxes with plans of improving the fire rating from a Class 7 to a Class 6.
The change also comes on the heels of city discussions about annexing much of the area that would be served by this station, including the Lakeview subdivision.
“Obviously with the annexation discussions and the funding challenges going on, adding a sixth engine and a sixth station was going to be very challenging,” Tri-Community President Dewayne Stuckey said. “We tried to look at all the different options and the airport board gave us this option with no cost to them and minimal cost to us.”
Robbins said that by adding the station, many residents north and east of Columbia, including those in Lakeview, will go from a Class 10 classification to a Class 7, the department’s overall rating. The residents were previously more than five miles from a Tri-Community fire station and thus could not qualify for the Class 7 rating under rules adopted by the state’s insurance commissioner several years ago.
“We want to urge residents of the Tri-Community Fire Protection District to contact their insurance agent to update their policies,” he said. “Most policies are not updated until renewal time. I’ve already been contacted by several agents who are excited about being able to offer lower rates to their clients because of the new station.”
Stuckey said they’ve been looking at putting a station in that area for almost two years following the insurance commissioner’s ruling but didn’t have the money to acquire property and build a fire station.
But then they found the building on the airport property that would be perfect for one engine, Stuckey said. He thanked the airport board for allowing Tri-Community to have a free lease.
The property will soon be cleared as part of the multi-million-dollar runway expansion.
“What’s called the approach zone will be just north and west of here,” Stuckey said. “This will be a pretty good location because it will be right on the new Airport Road when it is moved. We will have road access, plus it’s really the perfect location to cover every one of the homes and businesses outside of our existing five miles of the other stations.”
Stuckey said more than 500 homes and businesses were previously more than five road miles from the existing stations.
The department will now have an engine at each of the six stations, according to Stuckey. Other stations include Goss, Bunker Hill, Improve, New Union and Enon.
“We ordered a new truck to go in the Goss area about three weeks ago and what we’re going to do is when that truck comes in in approximately a year, we’re going to keep the truck we were going to trade in on that truck,” Stuckey said. “It will be good for another five to six years. We will move it down here to Station 6 and move this truck back to Station 4, which is our least active station. At Station 4, we were able to get a loaner truck from Lamar County. George Stephens, Lamar County fire coordinator, found out we were looking for an engine to be loaned and they actually gave us a one-year lease at no cost to us. By that time, the new truck will be in and we’ll have a spare truck that we will put here at Station 6.”
Robbins said the addition of Station 6 means only a few areas to the north and northeast along the Marion-Lamar county line aren’t covered.
“We are currently working with Lamar County to provide coverage in those areas and we will help them with coverage in some of their bordering areas,” he said. “We really want to thank Lamar County for helping us out.”
Stuckey thanked the Board of Supervisors, especially Terry Broome, for some driveway work they did. He said the only expense to Tri-Community was to clean up, install a new door and put power in.
Stuckey said he was thankful to the many volunteer firefighters who helped out.
“Our firefighters pitched in and did the work that was necessary,” he said. “Most volunteers expect to fight fires or respond to accidents, but these guys donated a lot of time working to save the taxpayers money.”
Pictured Above: A Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department engine is located in the new Station 6 off Airport Road north of Columbia. The additional station could help cut response times and lower insurance rates. | Photo by Mark Rogers
