ROSEBORO—Residents hoping to take a dip in a pool filled by the town’s fire truck may be in shallow water since the town board has voted to discontinue the practice.

The topic of delivering water was brought up last month when the Roseboro commissioners discussed filling a pool for a family with a disabled child. This request led to the board seeking a policy for delivering water to town residents.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, the board was prepared to vote on a policy allowing the filling of pools for all residents and neighbors, but fire chief Bobby Owen had a few problems with the practice.

First, the fire chief expressed that no other municipalities are filling pools.

“Salemburg said they quit doing it,” said Owen, noting some problems that the town experienced as a result of handling such requests.

“They broke a septic tank lid, and the owners wanted Salemburg to pay,” said Owen.

The fire chief also argued that by filling pools, the fire department is not on an emergency call. To prove why this would be considered bad practice, he explained that if one of his firefighters was killed in an accident during a pool call, that volunteer’s family would not receive any death benefits because they were not responding to an emergency, a stipulation of the insurance.

As Owen finished explaining his reservations, mayor Roland Hall asked him, “Would it be better if we just did not do this or if we had a policy?”

With a sense of hesitation, Owen answered, “I don’t want it to boil down to what I say. My personal opinion is you don’t need a policy. I am afraid that with a policy, it may come back and bite you.”

Commissioner Arnold Sandy agreed with Owen, saying, “It will end up cooking us in the long run.”

Owen then expressed that he felt a number of other problems could occur, if the board allowed residents to get pools filled by the town’s fire truck.

“Something could happen,” said Owen.

Hall asked if a commissioner would like to make a motion stopping the delivery of water by fire trucks for the purpose of filling pools.

Commissioner James McLean raised his hand and made the motion, but he added a stipulation — exceptions of humanitarian efforts — that he said needed to be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

The motion was approved unanimously.

Katie Holland can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 136, or by e-mail at silife@myclintonnc.com.