By Roger H. Aylworth
The Chico Enterprise-Record
OROVILLE, Calif. — At the request of a Chico supervisor and with the concurrence of the rest of the Board of Supervisors, Butte County staff is going to take a look at whether the system of closing one fire station a day can be halted.
Tuesday, Supervisor Maureen Kirk told her fellow board members she considered closing a station a day “unconscionable.”
Kirk said she asked to have the discussion put on the agenda to see if there is money in the system to have all of the stations open daily at least through the end of the current fiscal year.
For Kirk, the need for superior and rapid fire response is not an academic topic. Her own home in Chico burned Feb. 6.
She told the board that having suffered through a fire gives her a clear perspective of the danger of the closures, which are called “brownouts.”
Earlier this month, Greg Iturria, the county’s interim chief administrative officer whose permanent position is as the chief financial officer, reported the county will have $7 million more in its year-end fund balance than had been originally anticipated.
Deputy Cal Fire-Butte County Fire Chief George Morris advised the supervisors the brownouts could be ended by bringing necessary staff back as temporary appointments that would expire in June. He also said the stations could be opened by staffing them with individuals on overtime.
Morris said the current No. 1 priority of the fire department is to end the brownouts.
“We didn’t do the brownouts because we thought it was a good idea,” said Chico Supervisor Jane Dolan. “We did it because of our budget situation.”
Dolan said she wanted Iturria to do a “focused” report on what it would take to restore all of the fire stations to operation.
Iturria said in order to do a meaningful report, he would want to wait until the property taxes are received in December. He told Dolan he could have useful data back to the board by February. Dolan responded she wanted the report “as soon as possible” and she “certainly” wasn’t willing to wait for it until February.
Iturria began to explain that without the tax figures, he wouldn’t have any new information and as of now, it looks like the county can just about afford to keep up with its current expenses. At that point, board chairman Oroville Supervisor Bill Connelly hammered his gavel and said, “Stop!” Connelly later apologized to Iturria, but said the CAO was getting off topic, and the point was to get a report on the possibility of ending the brownouts.
The board, on a motion by Dolan, voted unanimously to direct the staff to make the review “as soon as possible” and to report back by December.
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