Request By:
G. Anthony Mills, Esq.
Hopkins County Attorney
Courthouse
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter stating that the fire chief of the newly-formed Mannington Volunteer Fire Department has asked you about that department furnishing fire protection services to a portion of southern Hopkins County. Mannington is a community in northern Christian County next to the Hopkins County line. The residents of the Cedar Hill and Chicken Road areas in southern Hopkins County are without fire protection and have expressed a desire to be served by and become part of the Mannington Volunteer Fire Department and the area served by it.
Your specific questions are as follows:
1. Must the South Hopkins residents form their own Volunteer Fire District before they can be served by the Mannington Volunteer Fire Department?
2. If so, what kind of contract will be required, if any, and is it possible for the South Hopkins residents to serve as Volunteer Firemen on the Mannington Fire Department?
At the outset we are uncertain as to both the legal status of the community of Mannington and the Mannington Volunteer Fire Department. If Mannington is an incorporated city it is not a city of the first through the fifth class [KRS 81.010(1) through (5)]. It may, however, be a sixth class city [KRS 81.010(6)]. Furthermore, it cannot be determined from your letter whether the so-called Mannington Volunteer Fire Department is a city fire department (assuming Mannington is an incorporated city), a separate corporate entity, or an organization created pursuant to the terms and provisions of KRS Chapter 75. See OAG 77-488, copy enclosed.
If the Mannington Volunteer Fire Department is a city fire department, note the provisions of KRS 95.830 stating in part that any city owning or controlling fire apparatus may take it to extinguish fires to any point in the county in which the city is located or into areas of another county or state, as determined by the city legislative body. If the volunteer fire department is a separate corporate entity, the corporation's articles should be examined to determine the permissible extent of its operations.
It may be that the Mannington Volunteer Fire Department was organized pursuant to KRS Chapter 75. See KRS 75.010 and 75.025, particularly the first-mentioned section. KRS 75.020, dealing with the annexation or reduction of territory, provides in part that the territorial limits of an established fire protection district or volunteer fire department district may be enlarged pursuant to the procedures set forth in that statute. OAG 72-842, copy enclosed, dealt with the annexation by a fire protection district of additional territory in another county contiguous to the present territory. That opinion stated that KRS 75.020, by the language contained therein, indicates that the General Assembly had in mind that fire protection districts could embrace territory in more than one county. See also KRS 75.010 and 75.020, as amended by the 1976 Extraordinary Session of the Kentucky General Assembly, effective January 2, 1978.
In addition to the annexation procedure, KRS 75.050 provides in part that a fire protection district, a municipal corporation, or a volunteer fire department may make and enter into contracts with any other fire protection district, fire prevention district, municipal corporation, volunteer fire department, volunteer fire prevention unit, or volunteer fire protection unit, either within the same county or within an adjoining county in an area adjacent to the boundary line between the counties, for the furnishing or receiving of fire protection services where such fire protection is not otherwise provided by some division of government or governmental agency.
In OAG 77-616, copy enclosed, we dealt with that clause in KRS 75.050 providing "either within the same county or within an adjoining county in an area adjacent to the boundary line between the counties," in connection with contracts for the furnishing or receiving of fire protection service. At page three of the above-mentioned opinion we said:
"In view of the statutory use of the word 'adjacent' without any restrictive explanation, and considering the flexible meanings given in the dictionary and in Plunkett v. Weddington, above, and the object to be accomplished, it is our opinion that under KRS 75.050 the subdivision qualifies under the language 'within an adjoining county in an area adjacent to the boundary line between the counties,' and especially since from the context it appears that any area 'near by' the boundary line would reasonably comply with the requirement."
As to serving as a fireman with a fire protection district or a volunteer fire department organized pursuant to KRS 75.010 to 75.080, see KRS 75.120 and 75.110. KRS 75.120 deals in part with the appointment by the board of trustees of the fire district of the chief of the fire department and all subordinates while KRS 75.110 concerns the appointment of special firemen by the chairman of the board of trustees of the fire district.
We cannot specifically answer your questions because we do not know the nature of the Mannington Volunteer Fire Department. A city fire department may use its fire apparatus outside the city limits and in areas of another county subject to such authorization by the city legislative body. A fire department organized as a private corporation would be bound by its articles of incorporation and the bylaws adopted pursuant thereto. A volunteer fire department organized pursuant to KRS Chapter 75 may annex territory in another county. Furthermore, a volunteer fire department so organized may contract with other entities described in KRS 75.050 for the furnishing or receiving of fire protection services. Serving as a fireman for a volunteer fire department would also be dependent upon the nature of the particular volunteer fire department involved.