Fire Marshal

Mission

Our mission is to protect lives and property through fire prevention. We will accomplish this through enforcement of the North Carolina Fire Prevention Code and offering public education programs as requested.

Services / Subdivisions

Fire Administration

The Fire Marshal serves as a liaison with 16 career, combination, and volunteer fire departments contracted to provide fire protection. This involves working closely with these departments on issues such as mutual aid services, training, service delivery, and administrative issues, including budgeting and funding and fire prevention education.

Code Enforcement

The Fire Marshal is responsible for code enforcement as required by North Carolina General Statutes and the Moore County Fire Prevention and Protection ordinance for all unincorporated areas of Moore County and all public schools.

Additionally, the fire marshal's office provides fire code enforcement for the municipalities of:

• Town of Cameron
• Town of Carthage
• Village of Foxfire
• Town of Pinebluff
• Town of Robbins
• Town of Taylortown
• Town of Vass
• Village of Whispering Pines

Emergency Response

Public Safety provides on-call staff 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to respond to all significant emergencies within Moore County, and serves as technical specialists, coordinators, and resource agents. In addition, staff responds to and conducts origin and cause investigations of structure fires.

Fire Insurance Districts

The North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI) Office of State Fire Marshal (NCOSFM) is responsible for the certification and rating of fire departments in North Carolina. An important part of the information provided to insurers is a community's Public Protection Classification (North Carolina Response Rating System) number. The NCRRS program evaluates community fire suppression delivery systems according to a uniform set of criterion, incorporating nationally recognized standards developed by the National Fire Protection Association.

Because a community's investment in fire mitigation is a proven and reliable predictor of future fire losses, insurance companies rely upon North Carolina Response Rating System program to help establish fair premiums for fire insurance - generally offering lower premiums in communities with better fire protection.

The inspections are conducted by officials with the Department of Insurance Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM). Among other things, the inspection looks for proper staffing levels, sufficient equipment and proper maintenance of equipment, communications capabilities, and availability of a water source.

The North Carolina rating system ranges from a Class One (best rating) to a Class Ten (unprotected rating), with most rural departments falling into a Nine-category. While these ratings do not necessarily indicate the service level, a lower rating class number could decrease insurance rates for homeowners and businesses in that fire district.