North Bannock County Fire District may be without service if new contract not struck before October

The North Bannock County Fire District has held a contract with the City of Chubbuck for years, but that deal is expiring in October.

With Chubbuck not renewing the deal and the City of Pocatello unable to reach an agreement with the district residents may soon be an unprotected one.

Pocatello Fire Chief David Gates said that having an area without protection would likely bring about a “substantial” rise in insurance for homeowners in that area.

Gates said that the City of Pocatello looked at the cost to cover the area and determined that it wouldn’t work, based off the amount the district was willing to pay.

“It would be a disservice to our citizens to provide the service for a lot less than what our citizens pay,” Gates said. “And I’m sure Chubbuck is faced with that same scenario.”

In the end, this is an issue of money. Gates believes that the City of Pocatello would be more than willing to provide the service, should the cost be something the district could afford. But levy restrictions currently seem to be preventing that.

Now, it seems that the district must find a way to put together a decent chunk of change or put together its own department, the latter being an option Gates thinks would benefit the entire county.

Gates said all area departments are part of the “Gate City Interagency Fire Front,” which is agreement that has departments in other jurisdictions respond to fires other departments need assistance on, and the reciprocal firefighting agreement which serves a similar purpose.

These agreements mean that departments have to be willing to assist, but it doesn’t mean they are obligated to do so.

“So they could call, but if we don’t have the resources then we may not send them,” Gates said.

Now looking ahead, Gates said he would be worried if the district were to go without fire services.

“We’re surrounded by them, the whole north side of Pocatello is surrounded by North Bannock County,” he said. “Does it concern me? Absolutely. Can I do anything about it? Not much.”

“We will probably continue to do what we need to do to protect the citizens of Pocatello and if that means we’re gonna go put a fire out that’s close to our jurisdiction then we’re gonna go put the fire out if we have to.”

With the weather warming up, wildland fire season is approaching. Gates warned that it doesn’t take much for a fire to start and get out of control.

“Our number one defense is our citizens and good stewardship of our lands and making sure that they’re smart.”

The district will still be under City of Chubbuck fire department’s jurisdiction during the upcoming fire season, but their contract expires soon after on Oct. 1. The district is currently in discussions with both the City of Chubbuck and City of Pocatello to attempt to reach a deal before then.