High Point residents have spoken loud and clear; they want to keep their volunteer fire department.
By a ratio of almost 12-1, residents of the 1,600-unit, gated mobile home community responded in a survey recently that they do not want the Hernando County Fire Department to assume responsibility of fire coverage.
Never mind that of the volunteer department's 39 members, only 19 are firefighters. Or that of those 19, only three are state-certified and only one of those three lives in High Point. Or that none of the certified firefighters responded to most of the fires this year. Or that the median age of the firefighters is 59.
Clearly, people in High Point like their volunteers. They also, no doubt, like paying $45 a year, which is $83 less than the $128 annual assessment paid by about 29,000 other homeowners in the Hernando County fire district.
All of which creates a sticky situation for the County Commission, which is expected to decide Tuesday if the wishes of High Point residents outweigh concerns about their safety.
Should the county take over fire coverage in High Point, force residents to pay its higher fee for service and effectively disband the volunteer department?
Or should they grant residents' wishes by maintaining the status quo and continuing to send county trucks and crews to assist the volunteers at the expense of ratepayers outside High Point?
As commissioners broach this subject for the third time in as many months, they must not lose sight of the paramount issue: public safety. If the volunteers can't provide fire protection at least equal to the county's paid professionals, the decision is obvious. And, given the shortcomings pointed out in a report by Clerk of Circuit Court Karen Nicolai, it appears the volunteers do not measure up.
So, assuming county firefighters can do a better job, the secondary challenge for commissioners becomes finding a way to keep High Point residents happy without placing the burden of that satisfaction on other residents.
One compromise would be to have High Point residents pay the county a reduced annual fee, perhaps the same $45 they pay for the volunteer service. That would give High Point residents the fire protection they need, but they still would pay a total of $33 less than the $128 all other residents in the county fire district are assessed.
That possible solution would not please everyone, but it would be preferable to allowing residents to risk their safety and their homes to save a few dollars.
As the commissioners debate this issue Tuesday, they should keep in mind that a decision to provide the level of fire protection High Point residents deserve does not diminish the honorable and appreciated efforts of the volunteers. But the inescapable reality is that the era of volunteer fire departments is coming to an end in Hernando County. It may take a few years, but the building boom and the increasing costs of providing adequate coverage are combining to make the transition inevitable.
High Point residents can't continue to call on the county for help fighting fires and not pay for that service. And the county can't just stop sending help and increase the chances that someone - perhaps a volunteer - may die because the part-timers didn't get the job done.
The commission's choice is clear: Provide primary fire protection in High Point. After that key decision is made, begin the negotiations about who pays and how much.
