DRUMRIGHT - In an attempt to ensure legal compliance Drumright elected officials approved an agreement aimed at providing fire protection to unincorporated areas of Creek County — a decision that is anticipated to go before the Creek County Commission for finalization.
The Drumright Fire Department has been responding to emergency calls beyond city boundaries that technically fall under the county’s responsibility under state statutes, according to the Drumright fire chief, and without an official agreement in place he said using city resources to respond to county citizens who are outside city limits without a fire subscription is not only unfair to Drumright citizens but also illegal.
“We have to have some sort of agreement to be able to respond outside of city limits or we're doing it illegally,” said Drumright Fire Chief Brett Lunsford. “We just went outside of city limits and did a rescue on a cow in a swimming pool… We basically did wrong by our citizens; the citizens of the City of Drumright, by using their equipment to go outside of city limits to perform any actions because we have no contract in place.”
However, if the Drumright Fire Department were to do what is legal it would result in a significant portion of their district not receiving vital emergency service to rural homes, fields, and properties.
“We have 77 square miles in our district — seven of it is city limits and 70 of it is not. Seventy of it is unincorporated portions of county,” said Lunsford.
Within the 70-miles of unincorporated county land the department only has 10 percent that are covered under fire subscription contracts.
“Only 10 percent of people are paying [for fire subscriptions] and that 10 percent I feel like we’re assisting them legally because we have a contract but the state statute is that it is the board of county commissioners responsibility to provide fire protection however that may be — they could start their own fire department if they’d like to.”
Despite that, Drumright firefighters have continued to respond to calls without formalized documentation allowing for it.
“Morally, I don’t break the law but morally I can’t not help citizens,” said Lunsford.
If the agreement goes before the Creek County Board of Commissioners and is approved it would address a long-standing gap in statutory requirements and could bring muchneeded structure to how fire protection is delivered outside of city limits. As of Monday, July 28 Lunsford said the agreement had been submitted to a member of the county commission and he hoped it would be on an upcoming agenda. Although, he further explained the matter was previously introduced to the commissioners last year and was not addressed.
“We had kind of a contract in place last year that gave the county commissioners until October 1 to come up with something and they did not. We had actually told them at that time we're gonna have to quit responding outside of city limits if you don't come up with something,” Lunsford recalled. “But morally, I feel like I can’t do it.”
On Monday, July 28 Creek County District 2 Commissioner Zac Moore said he has arranged a meeting with the District Attorney’s office next week to go over the state statutes and familiarize himself with county responsibilities regarding the matter.
“I am very pro fire and look forward to working with the City of Drumright and the unincorporated areas they offer fire service to,” he added.
Still, legal risk remains as the Drumright fire department continues to operate to cover not just unincorporated Creek County areas but also Payne and Lincoln Counties.
“The one we did was for Creek County because the vast majority of our district outside of city limits does lie in Creek County but we also have, I think, 15 square miles in Payne County and we have like two or four square miles in Lincoln County,” said Lunsford. “We have no agreements with them either. . . That’ll be something that has to be done as well.”
He also said Drumright is not the only department operating this way.
“As far as Creek County goes there’s no contract for fire protection in unincorporated Creek County at all — anywhere,” he said. “Currently, the City of Sapulpa and the City of Drumright are the only two that have given them [the Creek County commissioners] a contract to go over to look at.”
Among other things, the proposed agreement would shift the responsibility for collecting rural fire subscriptions to the county, which could make the system more enforceable and sustainable.
“We’re trying to get the county commissioners to say, ‘Hey, property owners, you have to pay this much to have fire protection,’” Lunsford explained.
The Drumright Commission’s approval of the agreement now puts the matter into the hands of the Creek County Board of Commissioners — without it Drumright’s fire department remains caught between legal obligation and moral duty.