Thousands of El Paso County residents who’ve gotten free fire service for years might have to pony up.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department next month will propose that roughly 800 tracts that border the city or are surrounded by it be charged an annual fee or be billed if firefighters respond to a fire.

In addition, residents in the rural areas outside fire districts are being encouraged to join the districts, which could lower insurance premiums considerably.

Owners of about 4,040 parcels in the county, covering nearly 300,000 acres, pay no taxes for fire service. Some are vacant land or farms, but most are residential.

“There are areas on the fringe that have been enjoying fire protection for years for nothing,” said Colorado Springs Fire Chief Steve Cox. “If they want to continue fire protection, there’s a cost to that.”

One enclave is Park Vista, northeast of Austin Bluffs Parkway and Barnes Road, where hundreds of homes on large lots pay no taxes to support fire protection.

That doesn’t mean firefighters won’t respond.

“If there’s a house on fire, we’re going to go,” Cox said.

Cox said property owners who don’t opt in should expect a bill.

“If they’re going to call and use our services,” he said, “they should pay for that.”

Cox couldn’t provide estimates of proposed fees, but Black Forest Fire Protection District Chief Dave Ury said fighting a house fire costs thousands of dollars — not that he’s had much luck collecting.

“We tried that about 15 years ago,” Ury said. “There was so much litigation, the fire departments got lost in the shuffle.”

Now that the Black Forest district is building a new station near its northern boundary, dozens of homes immediately north of Hodgen Road are within sight of the station, but aren’t in the district.

Ury is encouraging people to sign up and, so far, about a dozen homeowners have joined and another dozen have expressed interest.

Among those is Rachel Allison. By joining the district, she might see a sharp drop in insurance rates on her Ramblin Rose Road home. Now she pays about $2,000 a year, a rate that rivals those in states like Louisiana and Florida where hurricanes and wildfires have caused billions of dollars in losses.

By joining the district, Allison, who lives about five miles from Black Forest’s new station, would pay about $200 more in property taxes, which could be offset by lower insurance premiums.

When Allison moved there 20 years ago, she was surrounded by open range. Dozens of homes have popped up since, many without fire protection, something that won’t happen again. The county amended its development code in 2007 to require fire protection whenever land is subdivided.

But uncovered tracts are sprinkled around the county, including a parcel at Las Vegas Street and Highway 85-87, where a fireworks stand has set up regularly around the Fourth of July. Flanked by Security and Stratmoor Hills fire departments, the land isn’t taxed for fire protection, and owner Ronald McAninch isn’t complaining.

“Our concern is that this doesn’t become part of some city, because we have to be in the county to handle the fireworks,” he said, referring to a city ban on possessing and selling fireworks.

Although joining a district wouldn’t place the property in the city, McAninch said, “It’s a slippery slope.”

A Stratmoor Hills Fire Department spokesman said a few businesses contract with the district in that area, but not the fireworks business.

Security Fire Chief Ski Stanbaugh said the fireworks business isn’t the only example. Others, too, don’t want to pay taxes.

“He’s playing the odds,” Stanbaugh said of businesses outside fire districts, “thinking, ‘I’ve never had a fire here before, so why should I pay for that?’”

Because it’s not fair, Ury said.

“These folks are receiving something for nothing,” he said. “I’d like to say, ‘If you’re not in a fire district, you don’t get any service.’ But I can’t say that. This is what we do.”

Photo by