Yadkin County Fire & Rescue

The Board of Commissioners is authorized by North Carolina General Statutes to create Fire Service Districts and Rural Fire Protection Districts (once approved by ballot), to levy property taxes and set tax rates within those districts. The Districts’ governing body is the Board of Commissioners and they contract with fire departments to provide fire services within the District. Currently, the County contracts with one fire department to provide fire protection services in each district and each department submitted a budget request to the County for funding in FY2025. 

VOLUNTEER FIRE AND RESCUE DEPARTMENTS

ANNUAL CONTRACTUAL RATE

 The County started a turnout gear reimbursement program in FY2018 through the General Fund and expanded the program in FY2020 to include Viper radios.  The contractual amounts with each fire department exclude the reimbursement program, as it is funded in the strictly within County’s General Fund. All ten (10) of the Volunteer Fire Departments and the Rescue Squad have taken advantage of this opportunity since its inception. 

REIMBURSEMENT PROGRAM

The County also began paying for hose and ladder testing for all of the Volunteer Fire Departments and the Rescue Squad in 2022 and this is also funded separately from the contracts for fire protection services.

HOSE AND LADDER TESTING

Volunteer Fire and Rescue Departments across the United States, as well as in Yadkin County are struggling to recruit and retain volunteers.  Depending upon the location within the county, some departments struggle finding volunteers to respond to calls during the day and others struggle at night. The volunteer departments within Yadkin County are implementing ideas to help recruit and retain volunteers, from reimbursing them per call, hiring part-time employees, increasing part-time employees’ rate of pay to exploring residency programs.  Several have been awarded grants to help with recruitment, marketing and staffing. 

The training requirements, as well as the risks associated with firefighting have increased and are impacting volunteers and their families. Surry Community College does not currently offer Firefighter Certification classes at the Yadkin Center and those members needing the certification classes have to travel to Dobson. Training needs are forcing Departments to explore new ways to provide training and to meet the requirements. 

In Yadkin County volunteer fire and rescue departments are faced with aging apparatus (some trucks are approaching 30-40 years) which having costly repairs and other equipment such as thermal cameras and air bottles that need replacing. The fire departments and the County need to develop a plan for replacing all apparatus and how to fund them. FCC continues to make new requirements for radios.  First it was narrow-banding and now it’s in order to communicate with all agencies, radios must have the ability to communicate on the VIPER network.  This means purchasing radios that will function on the County’s analog system, as well as the VIPER digital system. The County plans to transition to the VIPER network for radio communications and has purchased land to build a new VIPER tower to make the system reliable throughout the county. The transition to the VIPER network should occur within the next 12-18 months.

The fire departments need three main things to provide fire protection service: trained volunteers, trucks/equipment and water.  The need to access water either by running hose, establishing water points or investing in pumper trucks is challenging in rural communities. 

The volunteer departments work hard with limited resources as non-profit organizations to provide a needed service to county citizens. They are all working to lower their ISO rating to assist citizens and businesses in their respective Districts with lower insurance rates.  There are parts of the county that are not within the 5- or 6- mile range of a fire station or sub-station which prohibits citizens in those areas from benefiting from lower ISO ratings. This needs to be addressed with realignment of the ISO districts, as well as response districts.

The Yadkin County Rescue Squad has been a vital part of our community since the 1970s.  They continue to be largely volunteer-based with some additional part-time employees.  The Rescue Squad provides standby support for Yadkin County Emergency Medical Services when their units are already in response to medical calls.  The Rescue Squad also maintains a water rescue unit. The Rescue Squad is funded through the County’s General Fund.

The Yadkin County Rescue Squad (Squad) was the original fire responder agency with members located throughout the County and is recognized as a “heavy rescue squad” by the NC Association of Rescue and EMS. The Squad is the primary provider of rescue services in the county, maintaining equipment for technical rescues such as building collapse, trench cave-ins, confined spaces, backcountry and water based incidents.

 The Volunteer Fire Departments and Rescue Squad also receive funding through grants, and some from other counties in which they respond.

VOLUNTEER FIRE and RESCUE DEPARTMENT CASH ON HAND

 In the Request for Funding, each Volunteer Fire Department reported having the following cash on hand.

VOLUNTEER FIRE and RESCUE DEPARTMENT RESPONDED CALLS CALENDAR YEAR 2023

(Includes Fire, Medical, Service, Rescue calls as self-reported by the Department)

FIRE DISTRICTS’ TAX RATE

Yadkin County is home to many skilled, talented and dedicated fire, ems and rescue members.