PENDER COUNTY — Pender County could be getting a new fire district, allowing the reopening of a controversial volunteer station — under new leadership — that has faced a lawsuit in the last year.
READ MORE: Pender lawsuit against Shiloh-Columbia FD alleges financial misconduct, nepotism
ALSO: Shiloh-Columbia FD volunteer disputes Pender’s allegations of misconduct, awaits payroll
Shiloh-Columbia Volunteer Fire Department, located roughly 12 miles outside of Burgaw on U.S. Highway 421, shut down Oct. 4, 2023. Pender County shuttered the department and filed a lawsuit against it for failure to meet service requirements and financial misconduct. The defendants in the suit included Shiloh-Columbia Volunteer Fire Department, Chief William Rossell, and president of the board of directors Fred Simpson. Pender took over Shiloh-Columbia’s finances after filing the suit.
Simpson signed a settlement agreement Wednesday in court to give land, equipment and trucks to the county. The Pender County fire marshal’s office is proposing a new district, including both Shiloh-Columbia and Penderlea volunteer fire stations, to allow the Shiloh-Columbia location to reopen with staff and volunteers from Penderlea. This means Shiloh-Columbia, which was originally its own department, will operate as a station under the leadership of the Penderlea department.
The station has two weeks to perform the obligations in the settlement, else the county will bring the station back to court to force its requirements.
The Shiloh-Columbia station will be refurbished, and equipment will be assessed. The station is expected to be able to be used by the Penderlea firefighters within a few months.
Pender County Fire Marshal Amy Burton presented at the June 3 county commissioners meeting to propose the Penderlea Fire Department’s takeover of the Shiloh-Columbia station.
Though the proposal outlines service from the Shiloh-Columbia building, residents near the station were still concerned with not being included in discussions of the station’s closure. They also took issue over having to receive service from fire stations further away, which they alleged would result in longer response times.
“My house could burn down a quarter of a mile from the fire department,” Linda DeBose, a Watha resident, said at the meeting, “Nobody cared about our safety.”
Penderlea, Burgaw and Atkinson departments, as well as Penderlea EMS, have been filling the gaps in the Shiloh-Columbia district since the closure. Penderlea and Atkinson stations are 7 miles from Shiloh-Columbia and Burgaw Fire Department is 13 miles away.
In defense of the new district, Burton said residents will see more effective fire protection without tax increases.
Response time was also addressed in the meeting.
“I’ve heard some concerns that firefighters will be coming all the way from Penderlea,” Burton said. “That’s not the case, and in my fire marshal heart I hope that we can grow volunteer numbers back again, all the way across the board.”
Fire protection effectiveness is determined by the state fire marshal, which reviews call- and- response data, training and equipment overall in the county to determine a score out of 10, with one being the best protection and 10 being the worst.
Currently, with the closure of Shiloh-Columbia, the district operates at a seven. With the new district allowing the station to be staffed by employees and volunteers, the score will be estimated to be a four. Burton said this will save residents roughly $1,200 per year in fire insurance expenses.
Though the station will be re-staffed, some residents defended the former Shiloh-Columbia station and said its responses to calls were efficient and professional, despite the county’s allegations. The station was accused of delayed response times due to not consistently maintaining full water tanks in trucks, having to refill before responding to a call, and allowing staff to work without adequate protective equipment.
“They have came to my house on several occasions, most recently in 2022. They were very on time, in a reasonable amount of time,” said Cheryl Highsmith, a resident living near Shiloh-Columbia. “They even came back to make sure that the fire did not reunite.”
The lawsuit was filed by the county following a complaint from former fire marshal Mark Haraway, resulting in an investigation that prompted the county to accuse the station on a variety of offenses, including employing minors, paying employees in gift cards to avoid taxation, dispatching a vehicle outside of its district, and allowing employees to permanently reside in the department.
Shiloh-Columbia also did not properly submit finance reports to the county and mishandled an estimated minimum of $25,000 in funds.
A final vote on the resolution for Penderlea to absorb the Shiloh-Columbia district was tabled until the June 17 meeting, at the recommendation of county manager Michael Silverman. This was because board chair Brad George was absent from Monday’s meeting and Commissioner Jerry Groves participated in the meeting remotely. County manager Michael Silverman recommended it move to the next meeting on June 17.
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