Texas Fire Department Considers Billing Insurers.

The Plano, Texas, Fire Department is considering billing auto insurers for responding to auto accidents.

Fire Chief William Peterson said the city is considering joining several smaller municipalities in Texas that issue bills to auto insurers for such things as extricating people from car wrecks, putting out auto fires and cleaning up fluids leaked from autos involved in accidents.

The Piano City Council is considering Peterson's proposal to charge insurers $1,200 for extrication, $250 for treating injured people in auto accidents and cleaning up car fluids, and $500 for putting out a car fire.

Jerry Johns, president of the Southwestern Insurance Information Services, said several fire departments bill insurers, and insurers have been paying the bills--at least for extrications. But the industry is opposed to the idea, which ultimately would raise insurance premiums, Johns said.

"We consider it cost-shifting from what would be covered by the tax base to private industry," Johns said. Also, the insurance industry feels that auto insurance is a contract between the company and the customer, not between the company and a police or fire department.

"If it impacts our claims experience, it could impact our rates," said Dick Luedke, a spokesman for State Farm Insurance Co., the top auto insurer in the state. He couldn't immediately say whether State Farm had been billed by any fire departments.

With insurers already covering the bills in some areas, "we're kind of foolish if we don't jump in there and take advantage of it, too," Piano's Peterson said. Auto accidents cost the Plano fire department about $1 million a year and represent about 16% of its emergency calls. Auto accidents are increasing in the area at a rate of about 10% a year, Peterson said.