Town council here, supported by Fire Chief Dan Callaghan, has approved a two-year agreement with Fire Marque to recover costs of fire services.
Chris Carrier of Fire Marque explained in a Dec. 15 presentation to council the municipality’s fire department is named as a first party coverage in many home insurance company contracts.
Fire Marque works on behalf of the town to recover the amount listed on each individual contract.
“We would invoice insurance companies on behalf of your fire service for the cost of the fire department in attendance with respect to insured peril,” said Carrier.
He explained there are 13 insured perils such as explosions, fires and lightning.
Carrier said the town would have to recognize the service by a bylaw and amend its user fee bylaw.
He would require the fire department to send incident reports to the company and they would take it from there. Fire Marque would retain 30 per cent of the recovered funds, which Carrier said is standard with all municipal clients.
Carrier projected an annual return of $15,800 for the town. He added the money, due to the nature of the insurance contact, would have to be spent within the fire department on public education, personnel training and capital purchases.
Carrier emphasized there would be no out-of-pocket money from the residents.
“We are recovering from the insurance company; you’re not asking the property owner to be out of pocket any money,” he said.
