Robeson County residents ask for more coverage when it comes to fire safety

LUMBERTON, NC (WBTW) – Saddletree residents in Robeson County are asking for more coverage when it comes to fire safety. Thursday night, residents came together to talk about the possibility of building a substation.

“This is our community. This is where we live. We want to be safe”, said Angela Hunt, a resident of the Saddletree community.

For people living in the Saddletree area, safety has become a big concern.

”We want to be able to when we go to sleep at night lay down and know that if something happens that we’ll be protected”, said Hunt.

The community is the in the middle of three other fire stations, but Saddletree is considered unprotected.

Some people in the Saddletree community say they’ve been paying more than double on their property taxes for a fire service they are not receiving.

Community members are now asking for a fire substation so they can finally get what they’ve been paying for in Robeson County

“It would make all the difference in the world , you know, we would know that we’re protected in case there is a fire or any other kind of, you know, God forbid, any other kind of circumstance, but we would have that assurance we are protected”, said Hunt.

Robeson County commissioner Raymond Cummings talked about the possibility of building a substation to help increase safety and decrease taxes and insurance rates.

However, Cummings says it’s not up to him.

“It’s up to the fire department based on the information we can give them to say we need these things to happen to locate a satellite station here”, said Cummings.

Cummings says the county would help with the costs, but before that, they would need twenty volunteer firefighters to agree to man the new station.

Fire officials in the areas surrounding the Saddletree community say they will still respond to emergencies…but because of distance and with no particular station responsible for the district, it could take more time.

Cummings says they plan to make a decision on the new fire station at their next meeting on March 24^th.

Count on News 13 to keep you updated.