W.Va. VFD to Offer Fire Service by Subscription

The Teays Valley Volunteer Fire Department plans to withdraw from the Putnam County Fire Service Board.

The department would become a subscription-based, private, nonprofit organization on July 1, 2012. This alternative method provides cost-effective protection to the area and improves the timeliness of service, according to a statement from Jennifer Tully, an attorney with Pullin Fowler Flanagan Brown and Poe, which is representing the department.

"Having private fire protection is an opportunity for citizens to exercise freedom of choice over having or not having fire protection without being forced to pay for a service they may not need or want," Tully said. "The TVFD understands that it is a hard economic time for many of us and therefore does not plan on raising the fire fee in the immediate future."

Residents and businesses will be sent bills in April for the remaining six months of the 2012 calendar year. Firefighters will provide services even if residents don't pay the subscription, but if services are rendered, then the resident or business will be billed.

Any fee increases would be implemented in small increments over a period of about a year. Privatization also would allow the department to hire fulltime firefighters, which could reduce residential insurance rates.

A countywide fire service fee administered by the Putnam County Fire Service Board currently funds the department. That money is dispersed to all departments in the county. Currently only 8 percent of the fee goes to the Teays Valley department, Tully wrote.

"In order to continue to make public safety a first priority, the members of the Teays Valley Volunteer Fire Department believe it is crucial to withdraw from the Putnam County Fire Board and become a private nonprofit fire station," Tully wrote.

The fire department plans to continue to provide mutual aid to all Putnam County fire departments.

Contact writer Ashley B. Craig at [email protected] or 304-348-4850.