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PICKENS COUNTY - The Central fire district may be getting bigger - and the Six Mile fire district may be shrinking - in order to better serve 300 residents in Six Mile.

County Council members approved on first reading to extend the Central fire district's boundaries in order to provide better response time to 300 residents currently in the Six Mile fire district.

"What we did was basically increase the Central fire district boundaries, and decrease the Six Mile fire district boundaries," said County Administrator J. Chappell Hurst.

Timing studies done through the county Geographic Information System department proved the need for a change, Hurst said.

"Central built a fire station out of town closer to the area being annexed," he said.

"People in that area felt it would be more advantageous to be closer to that fire station."

The northern boundary of the Central Fire district has been set before Knoll View Road, Hurst said.

"You have to have a natural boundary or roads serve as boundaries," he said. "You don't want to stop a fire district in the middle of a road."

Knoll View Road was selected as the northern boundary due to the amount of difference in response time between the two fire districts there.

"There's about one minute's difference between Six Mile and Central there," he said. "It's really insignificant."

The switch, if approved, would remove $12,800 in collections from Six Mile, but would also result in less expenses for the town, he said.

"It's less service for them to provide, so probably some lesser amount of expenses as well," he said.

County officials worked with both fire districts in proposing the switch, he said.

"We tried to have the least impact we could, while putting people where they could receive the best response and the lowest ISO rating," he said.

The Insurance Services Office rating is one factor used by fire insurance companies in determining the premiums on property.

The motion requires two more readings and public hearing before taking effect, Hurst said.

"We're going to advertised (the proposed fire district) map in the newspapers and then set the public hearing," he said. "People will be able to make comments on it."

County has made no decision regarding the future of the county's fire board system, Hurst said.

Much discussion has been made in recent months over the possibility of doing away with fire boards, appointing a fire marshal to be over all county fire boards, or creating a fire director position to work closely with boards.

County Council members are currently serving as the Pumpkintown fire board after that board resigned earlier this month.

"They haven't done anything yet," Hurst said. "That's something that would be done at budget time, or with an amendment after the budget passes, so now's the appropriate time to discuss that issue."