Lincolnville is dealt setback in ruling on firefighting suit

Reproduced from The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC (used with permission)

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Lincolnville is dealt setback in ruling on firefighting suit

By: BO PETERSEN    Of The Post and Courier Staff
Originally Published on: 02/15/02
Page: B3

     LINCOLNVILLE - The town’s fire department can’t take over for C&B Volunteer Fire Department - even in the town’s own Dunmeyer Loop neighborhood, a federal judge has ruled.
     U.S. District Court Judge Falcon Hawkins ordered the town of Lincolnville not to keep C&B from providing fire service to - and collecting fees from - homes in the service area of C&B, including neighborhoods annexed by the town since 1981.
     The suit’s outcome is one more wedge between two volunteer departments scrambling for money to operate and cooperating sometimes begrudgingly.
     It hampers Lincolnville’s efforts to build its department, and could slow down plans to expand the town.
     C&B in 2000 sued to keep Lincolnville and Summerville from expanding the towns’ fire services into areas the towns annex.
     The lawsuit stemmed from a law that protects fire departments with outstanding federal loans from losing part of their service district, which would make it more expensive for the remaining district taxpayers to cover the debt.
     Hawkins ruled on the lawsuit this week.
     “I’m not entirely surprised, but I am certainly disappointed,” said Daniel Martin, Lincolnville’s attorney for the lawsuit.
     “The town felt it had been serving that area, and people in that area had requested the town be their service provider. That choice was taken away from them.”
     The judge’s order provides for the two departments to keep giving mutual aid, but says C&B should be first responder and be in charge at fires where both departments turn out.
     In a lone concession to Lincolnville, the town wasn’t ordered to pay for fees C&B might have already lost.
     Trent Kernodle, C&B’s attorney, said most properties involved in the suit were not developed until recently, and there wasn’t much revenue lost. “All (C&B) ever wanted was to be protected,” he said.
     Kernodle said no court has ruled against a fire department in suits over the law.
     Summerville last year paid $213,000 to settle the lawsuit, but keep serving annexed areas.
     The town was ordered to pay to take over fire service in future annexed areas.
     The lawsuit was filed after Hawkins ruled that James Island Public Service District could continue to offer fire service to areas annexed into the city of Charleston.
     The C&B service area covers the territory from Summerville to North Charleston and between Lincolnville and Goose Creek.

Reproduced from The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC (used with permission)

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