Nash Road falls outside county's fire protection districts

Given their mission -- to protect lives and property -- firefighters may find it hard to watch a business or residence burn to the ground.

But on Nash Road in Cape Girardeau County, the only stretch of county road unincorporated into a fire protection district, the scenario isn't at all unlikely.

Seven of 29 businesses in the area are not contracted with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, or any other county fire district, to receive fire protection. According to John Sachen of the Delta Fire Protection District, Nash Road is an area that has been largely unprotected for years. Delta's fire crew ended its coverage in 2005, contracting to respond to a fire only if there is a life in jeopardy. They'd also respond if they were called in to provide mutual aid to Cape Girardeau for a property that pays dues to the department.

"It sounds unusual, but it is not our duty or obligation," Sachen said. "If someone has a fire and nobody's life is at risk, we are actually not following the essential contract we have with our taxpayers, which is to provide protection to them. It's an unfortunate circumstance."

Since a 2005 incident involving a truck driver making an emergency stop at First Missouri Terminals, a business not under contract, there's been little discussion among rural fire districts or city leaders to remedy the situation. Delta didn't have authority to respond to the possible truck fire, but did anyhow. The legalities of a crew doing something like that again for a business not contracted for fire protection could get messy, said Sachen and Delta fire chief Alvin Frank.

"We have no authority to be there," Frank said. "It's not fair to our taxpayers for all of our equipment to be in an area that's not paying for our equipment."

According to Jay Cassout, Scott City fire chief, none of the Nash Road structures contract with his department for fire service and it would only respond to fire there if requested for mutual aid from Cape Girardeau.

"Scott City has contracts outside our city limits, but with a three-mile radius," he said. "It's not my jurisdiction."

If the Scott City crew responds to a call outside city limits and the owner has contracted with the department, the owner pays $250. Without a contract, the department charges the land or property owner $2,500.

Despite minimal discussion on the matter, those involved are aware of the options on how fire protection could be offered to the unincorporated section of road.

Sachen said a fire district -- the closest being Delta or Gordonville -- could decide to include Nash Road in its coverage area. The businesses would then be required to pay a tax for the district's services. Frank said members of the Delta Fire Protection District discussed doing just that two or three years ago, but no action was taken.

"We're just looking at what we have to do to incorporate," Frank said. "It's not much of a tax base."

Cape Girardeau fire chief Rick Ennis said another option is to continue to do nothing. The department, he said, will continue to send letters to businesses each May informing them of the option to renew their fire protection contract. Businesses seeking fire protection are asked to renew each June, and pay $1,000 to the department annually.

"Until, I guess, all of the business owners down there get on the same page and decide to do one thing or another, right now it's individually," Ennis said.

If the businesses were annexed into Cape Girardeau -- a third option -- Cape Girardeau assistant city manager and director of planning Ken Eftink said each one would see a 7 percent increase in its property taxes for fire protection services. Currently, Cape Girardeau residents paying property taxes pay 31.35 cents per $100 assessed valuation. The taxes pay for a variety of city services, including fire, police, parks and recreation and more.

Eftink added, though, that there hasn't been discussion on annexing the businesses into Cape Girardeau, mostly because they're not contiguous with the city.

"There are 10 properties in the Nash Road area that have executed petitions for annexation," he said. "These properties will be considered for annexation when they become contiguous with the city limits."

In 2009, NAB Automation requested annexation into Cape Girardeau. The business was contiguous with city borders, so the city council approved the NAB's request. Any new businesses being constructed in the industrial corridor would go through the same process, although Eftink said he wasn't aware of any proposed construction on Nash Road.

The Southeast Missourian attempted to contact owners of several businesses along Nash Road including Jerry Lipps Trucking, QC Corp., Huttig Building Products and Forklift of Cape Inc., but most did not return phone calls or declined to comment on the issue.

A secretary at First Missouri Terminals said the owner did not want to comment and the owner at Jerry Lipps, a company unprotected on Nash Road, did not return reporter's phone calls.

Nash Road largely consists of manufacturing, trucking and shipping businesses. The road falls in Cape Girardeau County and Scott County.

When Canedy Sign and Graphics moved into its location at 4857 Nash Road, formerly General Sign, general manager Ellis Bradshaw said he renewed the contract for fire protection for the location. Bradshaw said Wednesday it doesn't make sense not to contract for fire protection.

When Canedy first moved into the building, several members of the department came to inspect the structure and while everything was up to code there was a malfunction with the fire alarms. Had Canedy not been under contract with Cape Girardeau, they wouldn't have been subject to an inspection.

"It's just good business to use," Bradshaw said. "You're relying on mainly volunteer fire departments in the outlying area where if we have an issue and the fire alarm system we have in here goes off, they call Cape and they're down here. It's peace of mind."

Sachen said Nash Road being incorporated into a fire district is troublesome because while the owners along the county road may understand the situation, businesses' employees or clients may not even know they're not protected by a fire department.

"There are so many people that could be involved that are not aware," he said. "What if there's someone making a delivery and their truck starts on fire?"

Insurance companies may also be unaware of the area's lack of fire protection, as Chris Gross, an agent at Capital Insurance and Associates Inc., pointed out. A business' premium is based on what class of protection the city it's located is in, he said. That rating is based on how close a business is to a water supply or how close it is to a fire department, among other things.

When Gross entered in addresses on Nash Road, he said they come up for protection as a class four, the same as all other properties in Cape Girardeau, indicating they're in a fire protection district.

"It comes up like it's in the city limits," he said.

Gross added that he didn't know some businesses along the road were under contract for fire service and some were unprotected.

"I would figure if you had no [fire] service provider that would definitely affect on your premium," he said.

The unprotected Nash Road is a concern to firefighters, too, Sachen said.

"At any time they may be the first arriving firefighter or officer and faced with the decision about what to do," he said.

ehevern@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

4868 Nash Road, Cape Girardeau, MO

326 S. Broadview, Cape Girardeau, MO

Delta, MO

3888 Nash Road, Cape Girardeau, MO