The Municipality of Grey Highlands will be using the services of Fire Marque to help recover fire department costs after structure fires.
At its meeting on Sept. 4, Grey Highlands council approved a report from Fire Chief Marty Wellwood that recommended engaging the services of Fire Marque to help the fire department recover costs from insurance companies after structure fires.
The company made a presentation to council about the services it offers in July 2023 and council asked for a follow-up staff report on the matter.
Fire Marque does not charge for its services - the company only gets paid when there is a cost recovery for the municipality.
After a structure fire, Fire Marque looks at the insurance policy and bills insurance companies where specific fires protection clauses are in the policy. Fire Marque keeps 30 per cent of any money recovered, with the other 70 per cent going to the municipality.
The company bills insurance companies directly and never bills an insurance policy holder.
In his report, Wellwood said Meaford, Southgate and Chatsworth all use Fire Marque and said those municipalities had described their experience with Fire Marque as “extremely positive.”
Council had asked staff to look into the possibility of doing the work in-house and billing insurance companies directly.
“It would be extremely difficult and beyond my scope of capabilities to do any collections,” Wellwood told council.
The chief said it is difficult to predict how much revenue Fire Marque would collect for the municipality, as structure fires are difficult to predict.
The necessary bylaws to have Fire Marque act on behalf of the municipality will come to council for approval at a future meeting.