January 11, 2011

MEMORANDUM

TO:		Wake County Fire Commission
FROM:	Sidney C. Perry, Fire Chief
		Town of Zebulon Fire Department
SUBJECT:	Satellite Fire Station

The Town of Zebulon intends to construct a satellite fire substation, in an effort to provide the best possible service to our citizens through delivery of prompt emergency service and by maintaining our established insurance grading.  While this project has been instigated and will be primarily funded by the Town of Zebulon, we request that the Wake County Fire Commission consider funding a portion of the station for the following reasons:
•	The additional station location will result in a reduced response time for fire and medical first responder services for a large amount of county property owners we serve.  A major part of the station’s justification is the extended response times to those remote portions of the municipality.  These same extended response times are realized by county areas as well, which would be reduced with this new facility.
•	The current fire station is inadequate for housing vehicles.  To properly house our current fleet, we must either construct an addition to our current station or build a substation.  An addition to our fire station would likely be eligible for partial funding by the County.  Partial funding of the substation could likely be less than a significant portion of an addition to our current building.
•	A substation would eliminate the six mile district currently served by the Town of Zebulon Fire Department.  This would enable these property owners to see a public protection classification less than a Class 9 in the future.
Thank you in advance for your consideration of this matter.  Again, we do not expect the County to fund a large portion of the station’s cost; however, we would like for you to consider providing some funding to enable us to provide a higher level of service to the citizens that we serve.  If you have any questions or need additional information, please let me know.