![]() "We've built our own multimillion-dollar road, water system and brought power up the mountain with 100-percent private money and will do the same for our fire system," Bradshaw said. Jasper Highlands was developed without any government help, and that it appears fire protection will fall on Thornton, too, Bradshaw said. The first one was given to the Foster Falls Volunteer Fire Department - the one that voted later not to cover Jasper Highlands - after the department's previous fire truck burned, Bradshaw said. The Jasper Highlands fire truck will be the second Thunder Enterprises has bought for use in Marion County. Thunder Enterprises president Dane Bradshaw said Thursday that a building that can house a fire truck is nearly complete and a fire truck purchase is in the works. "Right now, there is no fire department that's going to respond to your area."īlansett said the development's best option is to form its own fire department - and fast. ![]() "He is well aware that there is no fire coverage on his property," Commissioner Matt Blansett told Moriarty. Moriarty said the lack of fire coverage there was "a pretty well-kept secret" when he was purchasing the land. He said he has spoken with Jasper Highlands developer John "Thunder" Thornton about the lack of fire services for the development and encouraged him to construct a small fire hall and purchase a fire truck for it. Responding there could hold those fire departments liable if something happened in their own coverage areas, Jackson said. Other nearby departments won't respond to the development, he said, because it is in an area not covered by a mutual aid agreement. Insurers in Marion County often go to rural home sites to check on whether they are within one of the volunteer fire hall districts, he said.Ĭounty Mayor David Jackson said the Foster Falls Volunteer Fire Department covers parts of Jasper Mountain, but that organization voted not to cover Jasper Highlands last year. The same home in one of the areas without fire department coverage would cost $1,541 a year through Farm Bureau - a difference of $594, Graham said. Like Jasper Highlands, there are several areas of Marion County that are fire-response "no-man's land," Graham said.Ī policy for a homeowner born in 1950 who has a $400,000 newly built home in South Pittsburg, which has the county's best fire services rating of 4, would cost $947 a year. Phillip Graham, an insurance agent with the Farm Bureau office in Jasper, said the difference in annual insurance premiums is significant. He said his new house is expected to be complete in December and the insurance coverage will probably be "pretty steep" without fire protection. "I've never known a place where you couldn't pick up the telephone and get help, whether it's police or fire service," he said. Moriarty, a career firefighter himself, told the Marion County Commission this week that he'd never seen anything like it. When the deputies called in the fire again, the dispatcher told them that no one was coming. He called 911 and two Marion County sheriff's deputies responded, but no fire services arrived. ![]() When Edward Moriarty drove up to the Jasper Highlands development earlier this month to check on the construction of his retirement home, his car caught fire.
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