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The four volunteer fire companies housed in Mount Rainier's Bunker Hill Fire Station are asking county officials to revive a practice they say is crucial to their finances—hall rentals.

About a year ago, the county cracked down on fire station hall rentals after discovering some companies were renting to "groups with a propensity of violence," Director of Public Safety Vernon Herron said. He wouldn't elaborate on which groups or fire stations.

He asked the fire chief to look into the matter, which involved police responding to incidents at various county fire stations.

"We found that many [stations] didn't have the necessary permits," Herron said.

A hall can be rented out if the building has a public dance license and a permanent use and occupancy permit, which allows public assembly or dancing.

The Bunker Hill Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association is composed of the Brentwood, Cottage City, Colmar Manor and Bunker Hill volunteer fire companies. The groups are housed, along with county fire fighters, in the county-owned Bunker Hill Fire Station in Mount Rainier.

The association had rented out the county hall for years without a problem until February, said William Tavel, vice president of the Brentwood Volunteer Fire Department. Code enforcers stopped a 60-year-old's birthday party and cited the association for not having a proper permit.

The station had a temporary use and occupancy permit, and Tavel said they were awaiting a permanent one, which they hoped would allow hall rentals.

The county granted the permanent permit Aug. 28, but it still bars using the hall for non-company related events, such as birthday parties and dances.

Since the hall rentals have stopped, so has the roughly $2,000 a month in revenue they generated, Tavel said. The association raised about $20,000 last fiscal year in hall rentals, which is used to reimburse individual companies for their expenses. Some, like Cottage City, are making payments on newly purchased fire equipment.

"We're turning 20 hall rentals down. That's good money we're turning away," said Steve King, Bunker Hill's association president.

Tavel said the impact will be felt by all station firefighters and by volunteer companies with new equipment.

"It will not affect public safety. It will diminish our abilities to purchase new equipment or maintain equipment," he said. "And the money we receive from the hall rentals gets the nice things the station management can't provide."

The association used the money to buy things like tables or paint for the hall and to reimburse companies for payments on their equipment, which county funds can't be used for.

Herron said every year the county gives 90 percent of a state emergency services grant, about $1 million, to volunteer companies. The remainder is kept for the county fire department.

"I would challenge anyone who says the volunteers not being able to rent out their hall is impacting their operating budget. That's just not accurate at all," Herron said. "We provide revenue for the volunteers."

County fire stations are zoned as residential. Loud events would disturb neighbors, and surrounding communities don't have the infrastructure to support large events, Herron said.

"I think the zoning laws are put in place for a reason. All the research has been done," he said. "If fire stations have been doing that in the past, they have been doing that in violation of the zoning ordinance. And once we were aware of that, we put a stop to that… We can't enforce the law if we can't abide by the law."

Bunker Hill association officers said they are awaiting a memorandum of agreement over use of the hall, but Herron said no such agreement is in the works.

E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.