A judge has temporarily halted the de-certification of the Red Springs Volunteer Fire Department at the request of the town.
The halt, issued Friday, came as a result of a petition sent to Wayne Goodwin, commissioner of Insurance and state fire marshal, by town attorney Neil Yarborough in February in an attempt to resolve the issue outside of court. A hearing will decide if the department was rightfully de-certified and the Office of the State Fire Marshal’s decision reversed.
“We think when the true facts are revealed, the Insurance commissioner will withdraw the de-certification or an administrative law judge will,” Yarborough said. “We hope we can talk to the insurance commissioner and he will reconsider the decision of his subordinate. We’d like to talk this out but, if no one is willing to talk to us, we’ll have to go to court.” According to Red Springs Mayor John McNeill, the town has proof that seven infractions handed to the fire department in January 2015 had all been corrected, despite the Office of the State Fire Marshal finding that one of the seven infractions — low personnel — was still a problem.