By Tony Manolatoas
The San Diego Union-Tribune
The East County Fire Protection District might be forced to close because it can’t pay its bills.
Such a move would leave about 13,000 residents, hundreds of homes and businesses and an elementary school without a fire department. The possibility terrifies folks who survived the Cedar fire three years ago.
“If we don’t have a fire department, I’m not sleeping at night,” said Kandhy Franklin-Collins, who started the Crest Fire Safety Council after the October 2003 wildfires.
The East County fire district serves Crest and Bostonia, two rural communities that are still recovering. The Cedar fire swept through Crest, destroying 300 homes.
The Cedar and Paradise fires exposed numerous problems throughout the county, including one that taxpayers in small communities like Crest and Bostonia are still grappling with: a lack of fire funding.
Formed 12 years ago, the East County fire district operates with a $1.4 million budget. It’s trying to close the gap on an $800,000 deficit, Franklin-Collins said. The district can barely afford to pay its firefighters their hourly rate, $6.75 an hour.
“It’s embarrassing,” Franklin-Collins said of the pay. “They can go to In-N-Out (Burger) and make $8 an hour.”
The district gets most of its funding from property taxes, a formula that hasn’t kept pace with expenses, said Franklin-Collins, who opened her home to volunteers who rebuilt houses in Crest after the fires.
“They left three weeks ago,” she said. “Some people up here still have that deer-in-the-headlights look, and now we might not have a fire department. It’s unconscionable.”
Without a department, insurance rates and emergency response times would soar, Franklin-Collins said. Neighboring departments like Alpine, Lakeside and El Cajon would be forced to cover medical and fire calls.
The East County fire district’s interim chief, Jack Grogger, did not return calls.
Franklin-Collins recently took a copy of the fire agency’s financial statements to county Supervisor Dianne Jacob, whose district includes Crest and Bostonia. Jacob was asked for financial support, but she said that’s not an option.
“They have a serious, serious problem,” Jacob said this week. “But there’s nobody to bail them out. They’re just gonna have to figure this out.”
San Diego County doesn’t run a fire department. But residents who live in unincorporated communities like Crest pay homeowners taxes to the county, which historically has provided little or no tax dollars to rural fire districts.
Jacob, who is pushing a plan to consolidate the districts, gave fire officials three options, including fund-raising and bankruptcy.
The third option, consolidating the agency and 16 others in unincorporated areas in San Diego County, won’t happen until next year, if at all.
“We have to put that aside,” Franklin-Collins said. “We have to do something.”
The district is weighing its options, which include a mail-out vote seeking a $150 annual special assessment from homeowners. It can’t afford a special election.
Franklin-Collins said a cash infusion is needed to stay afloat.
“If we can get temporary assistance from the county, then we can keep our doors open, and then we can look forward to merging,” she said.