Skull Camp Fire and Rescue

06/01/2026

REMINDER!!!! 🚨🚨

Annual Meeting tonight at Palomino Mt Ranch. Doors open at 6:00. Food will be served at 6:30. Mtg. starts at 7:00.

Please enter at the new entrance at 8502 West Pine St.

Please come out and see what’s happening in your Fire Dept! Everyone welcome! See you there!

06/01/2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1st, 2nd Joint Statement from Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department, Franklin Community Volunteer
Fire Department, and Bannertown Volunteer Fire Department

06/01/2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Joint Statement from Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department, Franklin Community Volunteer Fire Department, and Bannertown Volunteer Fire Department
June 1, 2026 ( #1)

Understanding the Countywide Fire Tax District and Local Fire District Authority

An important fact that has received public discussion is how fire taxation in Surry County was structured before the County adopted the current countywide fire service tax district.

For decades, the nonprofit fire departments serving communities throughout Surry County operated within independent fire tax districts that funded fire protection services for their local communities. Citizens living within those districts paid taxes specifically to support fire protection within their own districts and to fund the nonprofit fire departments that served them.
Based upon information currently available, it does not appear that the County formally dissolved those individual fire districts when the countywide fire service tax district was created.

Instead, it appears that the County may have accomplished the transition by reducing the tax rates within the individual districts to zero and then overlaying a countywide fire service tax district across the entire County, establishing a single countywide fire tax rate applicable to all taxpayers receiving fire protection services.

If that is what occurred, an important question arises. If the County had the authority to reduce the tax rates of the individual districts to zero and replace them with a countywide fire tax district, does the County also possess the authority to reverse that decision? The answer appears to be yes.

The countywide fire service tax district was established through action of the Surry County Board of Commissioners. As a result, the Board of Commissioners possesses the authority to modify the tax rate within that district.

Likewise, if the underlying local districts remain legally in existence, the Board of Commissioners could reduce the countywide district tax rate to zero and restore the individual district tax rates through future County action.

In other words, the authority to return funding decisions to the local district level rests with the elected members of the Surry County Board of Commissioners.

This issue becomes even more significant if the original districts were established as Rural Fire Protection Districts under North Carolina law.

Historically, the creation and dissolution of Rural Fire Protection Districts involved direct participation by the citizens residing within those districts. If those districts were never formally dissolved through the procedures required by law, serious questions exist regarding their continuing legal status and the rights of the citizens who originally established and funded them.

The citizens of Surry County deserve clear answers to several straightforward questions:
• What specific legal mechanism was used to transition from local fire districts to the countywide fire service tax district?

• Were the original fire districts formally dissolved, consolidated, or otherwise terminated?

• If not, do those districts continue to exist today with tax rates that have simply been reduced to zero?

• If the districts still exist, what authority does the Board of Commissioners possess to restore local district funding should it choose to do so?

• Why has the public not been provided a clear explanation regarding the current legal status of the districts that historically funded and supported local fire protection services?

These questions are not political. They are questions of transparency, accountability, and local governance.

The citizens who paid the taxes, built the stations, purchased the equipment, donated the land, and volunteered their time deserve to understand how their local fire protection system was restructured and what options remain available for the future.
If the County possesses the authority to centralize fire taxation, then the citizens deserve to know whether the County likewise possesses the authority to return decision-making and funding authority to the local districts that have protected their communities for generations.

The people of Surry County deserve clear answers.
Respectfully submitted,

Joshua Moose, Chairman
Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.

Doug Coble, Chairman
Franklin Community Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.
J
oseph Love, Chairman
Bannertown Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.

Send a message to learn more

06/01/2026

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!! Please watch the video for details about tonight’s Annual Meeting for Skull Camp Fire & Rescue.

06/01/2026

The suspect is in custody. 🦅🚓

First and foremost, Skull Camp Fire & Rescue wants to commend our incredible Brothers and Sisters in Blue. Because of your tireless dedication, bravery, and teamwork across state and county lines, the suspect who shot Carroll County Deputy Logan Utt has been arrested. Thank you for your relentless work to bring this individual to justice and keep our communities safe.

As first responders, this hit incredibly close to home. Deputy Utt was a brother in emergency services—serving not only as a dedicated law enforcement officer, but also alongside us as a fellow firefighter in the area.

Our hearts remain broken, and our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Logan’s family, his blood and blue families, his fellow deputies, and everyone who loved him. We are also keeping the second injured deputy in our constant prayers for healing.
Rest easy, Deputy Utt. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten. 🖤🟦❤️

Send a message to learn more

05/31/2026

Surry County
Public Safety Alert: Law enforcement personnel are searching for an armed and dangerous suspect in the North Franklin area of Greenhill and Lakemont. Subject is a 55 YOM, last seen shirtless wearing a gray ball cap, green shorts, and wearing an orange western style rug on his back. If seen call 9-1-1. DO NOT approach. DO
NOT confront suspect.

The FBI is offering a reward up to $50,000 for information to locate and capture Michael Timothy Puckett. This adds to the $10,000 already being offered by the U.S. Marshals Service for a combined reward up to $60,000.

FBI Richmond is assisting the Carroll County Sheriff's Office, U.S. Marshals, the Virginia State Police, and multiple local and state agencies in a manhunt for Puckett, who is facing an Aggravated Murder charge in Virginia.

Carroll County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a welfare check at Puckett's home on Fancy Gap Highway on Friday at approximately 9:30 p.m. When they arrived and made contact, authorities said Puckett opened fire, shooting both deputies, killing one deputy and injuring the second. He then fled the scene.

05/30/2026

Community Update from Skull Camp Fire & Rescue:

We know many of you are waiting on further updates regarding the fire department. While we have more information to share, we are suspending any further announcements for today.

We are doing this out of respect for our neighbors in Carroll County, VA, and our law enforcement brothers and sisters who are currently dealing with the unimaginable as the investigation remains ongoing and the manhunt continues.

Our thoughts remain with them during this difficult time. We continue to pray for the injured officer, as well as the family, friends, and colleagues of the fallen.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

05/30/2026

We know there has been a lot of noise today with press releases and information.

But right now we want to pause to pray for our fellow service members in Carroll County who were faced with the worst scenario this evening with 2 officers being shot. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone there tonight.

05/29/2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press release #2
Below is a new press release response to Surry County's press release that was shared via social media earlier today. Please read and share!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Joint Statement from Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department, Franklin Community Volunteer
Fire Department, and Bannertown Volunteer Fire Department

May 28, 2026

Statement from Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department, Franklin Community Volunteer Fire Department, and Bannertown Volunteer Fire Department Regarding the County's
Recent Public Statement The Boards of Directors of Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department, Franklin Community Volunteer Fire Department, and Bannertown Volunteer Fire Department have reviewed the recent statement issued by Surry County regarding the proposed fire service agreements.

On one point, we fully agree with the County.
Community assets should be protected. In fact, protecting community assets is precisely why our Boards have declined to execute the proposed agreements in their current form.

The buildings, apparatus, equipment, and other property owned by our departments WERE NOT purchased by Surry County. They were purchased and built over generations by the citizens of our fire districts through fire taxes that the citizens paid, not the county, charitable donations, fundraising efforts, volunteer labor, and countless hours of community service.

For around fifty+ years, the citizens of these communities invested their time, money, labor, and trust into building these organizations. The assets held by these nonprofit corporations belong to the charitable mission for which they were acquired and are held for the benefit of the communities that built and supported them.

OUR DEPARTMENTS ARE NOT ARGUING THAT ASSETS SHOULD LEAVE THE COMMUNITIES THEY WERE INTENDED TO SERVE.

If a fire department were ever to dissolve or cease operations, we believe those assets should
continue serving the citizens of the district that paid for them and supported them.

The disagreement is not about whether assets should remain dedicated to public service.The disagreement is about whether the legal process established by North Carolina law should be
followed. North Carolina nonprofit law provides a specific process for the dissolution of nonprofit corporations and the disposition of charitable assets. That process requires action by the then-
current Board of Directors, approval by the corporation's members when membership voting rights exist, and review by the North Carolina Attorney General when charitable assets are
involved.

The citizens of our fire districts are not merely taxpayers. They are the corporate members of these nonprofit organizations. Under North Carolina law, those citizens possess legal rights regarding the future of their organizations and the charitable assets those organizations hold.

OUR CONCERN IS STRAIGHTFORWARD.

The proposed contract attempts to create a predetermined outcome regarding assets in the event of termination without allowing future boards, future memberships (Our citizens), and the statutory review processes required by law to exercise their rights at the time such decisions would actually be made.

Current Boards do not possess the authority to waive or surrender the future rights of citizens who have not yet had the opportunity to vote, nor can current Boards bypass legal processes established by the State of North Carolina for the protection of charitable assets.

The issue before us is therefore not whether community assets should be protected. The issue is whether those assets should be governed by the legal process established by North
Carolina law and by the citizens who built and paid for them, or whether those decisions should be predetermined through contractual provisions executed today in a contract the County has heavy handed almost every fire department in this county to sign, just call and ask them.

Our Boards believe that NC law already provides a process for addressing these issues, and we
believe that process exists for a reason: to ensure transparency, accountability, public
participation, and independent review by the NC AG’s Office, whenever charitable assets built
by generations of citizens are affected.

We remain willing to work with County officials toward a solution that protects public safety, respects the legal rights of nonprofit corporations, preserves the rights of citizens within our fire
districts, and ensures that community assets remain dedicated to serving the communities that built them.

That has always been our position, and it remains our position today.

Hereby submitted by,
Joshua Moose, Chairman
Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.

Doug Coble, Chairman
Franklin Community Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.

Joseph Love, Chairman
Bannertown Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.

Send a message to learn more