Dickenson County adopts ordinance authorizing volunteer fire department billing

The Dickenson County Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance authorizing local volunteer fire departments to bill for services, the board said after a brief public hearing.

County staff said the ordinance is a formality that does not change current operations but supplies written authority requested by some insurers. "This ordinance is a formality that's needed, that gives our local volunteer fire departments the ability to deal, for services when they're called out, like on a house fire," a staff member told the board. "The amount billed ... shall not exceed the limits of such coverage," the staff member said.

County attorney Sergio confirmed the draft copies the statutory language permitted by state law. "That that is correct. And so what this ordinance states is literally what's specified in the Virginia Code as far as permit a local to adopt," Sergio said.

After the public hearing drew no callers or in-person comment, a supervisor moved to adopt the ordinance. The motion carried on a voice vote recorded as "Aye."

The ordinance formalizes a practice county fire departments said they already follow: recovering costs for emergency responses consistent with coverage limits. The board did not change billing rates during the meeting and did not identify any specific insurer by name.

The board packet and discussion referenced the Virginia Code as the statutory authority for local adoption; staff described the ordinance as being word-for-word with that statutory language.

Supervisors closed the public hearing and moved on to other items on the agenda.