With the protest period concluding on the evening of Monday, September 9, Kane County’s attempt at a resolution forming a Fire Protection District east of Kanab has been denied by 148 protesters - estimated by county officials at about 17 percent of voters eligible for protest.
In a statement to the Southern Utah News, organizers of the protest movement declared, “The commissioners’ intent to control our fire district is obvious and yet they want no responsibility for what they would create.” The statement accuses the county of fear mongering and dishonesty regarding their claims of loss of fire service or insurance coverage. The statement declares, “This is a purposeful, unethical misrepresentation of the facts and the law. There is no reason anyone would lose a day of fire service or insurance coverage under the residents’ amendments to R 2024-27 [i.e. the protest body’s amendments to the commission’s proposed plan] or other provisions of the Utah Code regarding fire services. The will of the people, evidenced by protest results, should be respected by the Commissioners.”
However, the Kane County Commission opposes the idea that this protest constitutes the “will of the people,” stating that approximately 17 percent of the voting body filing a protest is far from a majority. The commission as a body stated, “Our attorney is trying to come up with some options for the folks east of Kanab … District formation was blocked by approximately 15-17 percent of the residents in the portions of the county which don’t yet have structural fire response set up. The county will try to support the community efforts moving forward.”
Mark Habbeshaw, a resident of the affected area and one of the organizers of the protest movement, stated to the SUN, “This isn’t a call to a fight. We want to leave the fight behind and work together with the commission to solve this problem with some of the options we see in the law.”
The two amendments to the commission’s plan, which Habbeshaw and other protesting constituents see as the crux of the protest, insist the fire protection district be limited to only protect properties east of Kanab in the Johnson Canyon and Vermillion cliffs area - specifically their desired removal of the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary property and surrounding plots from fire protection services, stating, “There are other options for Best Friends and other areas west and north of Kanab than diminishing our ability to provide the best fire protection to our fire community east of Kanab” - and the exclusive appointment of community supported board members preceding a municipal election (a period of about a year and a half) stating, “The proposed amendment simply provides for public advice to the Commissioners as to who they support as interim board members operating the district for the first 1.5 years. Interim appointed board members would likely create binding contracts, loans and make capital and operational decisions that a later elected board may not be able to undo. If appointed with residents’ support, they would likely be elected in November 2025 assuring a smooth transition from interim to long-term elected board members.”
Kane County Attorney Rob Van Dyke contests, “In your proposal to amend the recent resolution, you want to bind the county commission to appointing individuals by holding some type of quasi-election where registered voters are encouraged to apply, and registered voters are encouraged to give their input to the county clerk. Then the commission will honor the results of that input. This is not allowed. State code sets forth the process for appointing members. See 17B-1-304. The county commission cannot take any action that conflicts with state law. It is certainly possible for them to create an additional process before making appointments, but the county commission cannot act ahead of time to bind themselves to any group of individuals in advance of making the decision on who to appoint to the board. This means that either under the current process, or even later on under a citizen led petition, no county commissioner can be bound to appoint a person based on the results of a quasi-election.”
Per the Insurance Services Office, “To determine whether a home is at a low risk for fire, insurance companies look at an exclusive rating given to the area of a property in question. The rating, known as the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS), comes from the Insurance Services Office (ISO). The ISO rates communities on a scale of one through 10 based on fire safety contingencies. The lower the number, the better the fire safety. If your neighborhood has a low FSRS rating, your insurance premiums will likely be at the lower end of the scale … For an insurance company to offer you a relatively low premium, your home would need to be in the category of homes that are unlikely to incur much damage in a fire. Therefore, the homes in your community would need to have nearby access to firefighters and a hydrant, as well as ample emergency-response services and a low frequency of past emergencies.” ISO goes on to add, “If all the evidence points to a low FSRS rating for your area, it might become most apparent when you approach insurance agents, many of whom will look at the rating and reject your application outright.”
According to fire prevention officials in the area, most of the fires that would threaten Johnson Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs area fires are wildlands fires, which would be responded to by organizations managed by Color Country Dispatch like the BLM, which translates to a few specific scenarios in which no one would respond to a fire in the area, even lacking a fire protection agreement with a body like the Kanab Fire Department. However, these homes would still be considered “without structural fire protection” in terms of insurance premiums and mortgage rates should the agreement with Kanab City lapse in October.
Both the Kane County Commission and representatives of the protest body formed in the Vermillion Cliffs community have expressed desires to work together more thoroughly going forward, with each of the commissioners respectively stating they look forward to seeing the community’s plan for a citizen-initiated district, and community reps like Habbeshaw reaffirming “We’re not here for a fight - we just want a local agreement with local control.” With the current resolution defeated by protest, the most likely avenue for fire protection appears to be a citizen led effort via formal petition. This petition process is estimated by the county to delay the formation of a district by 6-8 months, leaving the status of fire protection in the unincorporated areas of the county uncertain should the fire protection agreement with Kanab City lapse. Some citizens have insisted that an extension of the agreement is possible and likely, and some have stated their intent to pursue legal action against the county citing Utah 11-7-1.
