Published: April 29, 2008 02:09 pm      

Cane Creek firefighters walk out

By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



The community of Cane Creek is now without the bulk of its fire department.

The volunteer staff of 12 firefighters left their posts during a Thursday meeting at the fire department, open to members of the community.

On Friday, only firefighter Charles Woods said he was available for duty at the fire station.

“I told them last night, ‘I’ll walk out tonight, but I’ll walk back in tomorrow morning,’” Woods said. “I will not give up.”

The Thursday meeting was called in an effort to diffuse heated differences between firefighters, the Cane Creek Fire Board, the Cane Creek Community Club and fire board president, Tom Campbell.

The biggest issue between the groups is the fire house, located at 915 Warrior Jasper Road, and how it is to be used by the fire department.

Campbell, who had previously said he would resign his post, said Friday that about 4,000 square feet of the property was leased to the fire board by the community club to build the fire house.

Initially, firefighters had access to a community room and kitchen. However, Campbell said firefighters abused privileges at the station.

“That’s when the decision was made to lock it up,” Campbell said.

Campbell said Thursday’s meeting was not productive and firefighters and members of the fire board who took issue with the way he presided over the fire board had no proof to substantiate their claims.

“The people just did a lot of talking, but they had no documentation,” he said. “What good is that?”.

He said despite the lack of a resolution from Thursday’s meeting, the community has no need to worry about losing their fire department. He said he had talked to members of the community and enlisted help from residents should their be any issues that would require the fire department.

Warrior Fire Chief Clay Neely said the Warrior Fire and Rescue Service would also be available to the 200 residents of Cane Creek.

Warrior’s fire department, which employs a staff of seven paid firefighters and 40 volunteers, currently has an ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating of two. Cane Creek’s ISO rating is four.

Many fire insurance companies use the ISO rating as a factor in setting the amount of premium that would be paid on a particular property.

Ratings of departments go from a class one (best) to class 10 (unprotected).

Neely said if the Cane Creek Fire Department were to dissolve completely, it could bring an ISO rating up to 10. That could mean no fire protection on some homeowners’ policies and triple the cost of premiums.

However, he said it would depend on the individual policy and if the homeowner would be served by Warrior’s fire department or Cane Creek’s.

Warrior’s offer of fire protection was good enough for Cane Creek resident Buddy Day, who also attended Thursday night’s meeting. Day said he left when tempers flared.

He said the firefighters should be cut some slack at the fire station because they are volunteers.

“Them people are working for nothing,” Day said. “If you can get somebody to protect you for nothing, you should be able to overlook some things.”

A neutral meeting is set to be held Tuesday night between representatives of the fire board and the community club.

In the meantime, Woods said he would continue to serve the fire department to the best of his ability.

“If my pager goes off or my fire radio goes off, I will respond,” Woods said. “Unfortunately, I’m the least qualified person down there, but I’ll do my best.”