Right about now most readers as saying, “What the hell?” Why in the world would Youngsville, North Carolina need to buy a fire truck with a big ladder on it. There isn’t a single tall building in town.
But don’t let your first reaction form your opinion about why the Youngsville Fire Department needs to spend $1,093,000 on a new fire truck. The backstory isn’t what most would think.
Logically you would think the need for a big ladder truck like this one would be dictated by having a bunch of tall buildings. Ironically that’s not the case. A ladder truck is used for other things like reaching out to do water rescues or rescuing someone injured in a tall tree, as happened in Bunn a while back. It also provides high flow water delivery when needed to put out fires.
The Youngsville fire district is about 58 square miles, bigger than you’d assume, and there is only one building over three stories. But the key issue is there are 26 buildings that require the capacity for the Youngsville Fire Department to deliver at least 3,500 gallon per minute of water flow based on the size of the buildings and 12 buildings that require in excess of 12,000 gallon per minute of water flow.
Some of the buildings that require a higher water flow demand are:
- Royal Elementary School
- Flat Rock Baptist Church
- Cedar Creek Middle School
- ABC Hosiery
- Wake Electric
- Fujitsu Building on Capital Blvd.
- Oak Grove Church
- Youngsville Elementary School
Now none of this is really an issue except for one critical factor that impacts all Youngsville residents, insurance rates.
In order for Youngsville to receive a better ISO rating for insurance underwriting the demand is for the fire department to have more pumping capacity and a ladder/service company.
The higher ISO rating is important for Youngsville area residents if they want to pay lower insurance rates for homeowners, vehicle, boat, or taxable property insurance.
Right now the Youngsville fire department has an ISO 5 rating. A rating of 10 is the worst. If Youngsville would slip to a 8 rating on their upcoming inspection then at least one estimate provided shows the average homeowner insurance premium would increase $94 per $100,000 of value. It is doubtful any property owner in the Youngsville area wants their insurance rates going up.
The ISO rating is calculated after an inspection by the North Carolina Department of Insurance examiner from the office of the State Fire Marshall.
According to Assistant Chief David Williams the new ladder truck will be paid for by Franklin County and titled to the non-profit Youngsville Fire Department with whom fire service is contracted to. Before you ask, in the case the Youngsville Fire Department was to ever fold, property would be distributed back to the county. The YFD will be financing the truck over 15 years and will be paid for through their annual budget funding through Franklin County verses a one lump sum payment from the county.
It is estimated it will take about nine months for the new truck to arrive from Pierce Manufacturing. If you’d like to see videos about the manufacturing process, click here.