KINGSTON — Eglon residents living 5.1 miles from either North Kitsap Fire & Rescue’s Kingston or Hansville stations might see their insurances rates rise, all due to a rule implemented back when horses pulled fire engines to blazes.

This history and creating a brighter future were reviewed July 12 when NKF&R officials met with a handful of Eglon residents to answer questions and discuss solutions on how to improve the community’s insurance classification.

This classification, which recently dropped from a Class 5 to a 10, is monitored by the Washington State Rating Bureau, a non-governmental agency that provides ratings for insurance agencies. Not all insurance companies use the WSRB’s ratings, but NKF&R has no way of knowing which do and which don’t.

“The problem with a technicality is that it may bite some of you folks,” said NKF&R Fire Chief Paul Nichol. “We don’t know how many of you folks will be affected.”

The issue was raised when the WSRB re-rated Eglon, and discovered it was more than five miles from a fire station. Though response times are what really matter, Nichol said, the WSRB will not bend the rules for Eglon. Statistically, response times are excellent for the area, he said, and definitely better than when the rule was created.

All NKF&R officials present urged residents not to contact their insurance companies, but rather to wait for their renewal before bringing up the subject. This, Nichol said, was because not all companies may have changed their rates.

Nichol said he didn’t want anyone offering that information if they didn’t have to.

“This is just dumb,” said Eglon resident Pat DuVall, referring to the fact that she is within the five miles, but her next door neighbor is not. “John (Dankers) and I are neighbors, and he’s a volunteer firefighter.”

“It’s luck of the draw,” Dankers said. “It’s unfortunate.”

These sentiments were echoed by the 12 residents who attended the meeting. Many were shocked that even though their fire and safety coverage is better than ever, their fire insurance may go up because of the classification given by the WSRB.

“Its a ridiculous standard,” said Fire Commissioner Gillian Gregory. She was joined at the meeting by commissioners Steve Neupert and Fernando “Espy” Espinosa.

“The level of service isn’t the problem in my mind,” said NKF&R Assistant Chief Wayne Kier. “The rule doesn’t really make a lot of sense.”

“It’s a significant rule, but it’s so old, it comes from the time when firefighters had to change the team of horses at five miles,” Nichol said, reassuring the Eglon residents that NKF&R is working to find a solution soon so insurance rates don’t increase for people in the area.

“We are spending the majority of our time trying to research and get to the bottom of this,” Nichol said. He made the offer for anyone present to join as a volunteer firefighter, which is one such solution to the problem.

“There’s a lot of gray hair in this room,” DuVall said with a laugh.

“This process has created a lot of gray hair,” Nichol joked.

Another solution is to move equipment closer to Eglon, and NKF&R is looking into that as well, Nichol said. He added that fire officials are exploring different options and will let the community know as soon as they’ve settled on one.

“We’re working really hard to solve this issue,” Gregory said. “Please know that we are not the only district that is struggling.”