Perkins said he's not concerned with response time because it is hard to say how fast any volunteer service can respond, and he said the difference is only a mile or two. Mutchler called the response time concern a "scare tactic."

Dickinson also said she's concerned with residents' taxes changing. The fire district collects taxes as part of town taxes. Currently, Scipio generates nearly 50 percent of the revenue for the district from those taxes. Perkins and Mutchler said they do not expect the separation to affect taxes for Scipio, but they said they could not speak for Ledyard or Venice.

Perkins also said Scipio would walk away from the current budget the commissioners oversee, only taking with them their department building and equipment. Jim Hughes, attorney for the town of Venice, however, said it's not that easy. He said everything in the three companies belongs to the district, and should Scipio leave, it would be up to the two remaining companies as to whether they wished to gift the building and equipment.