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Residents oppose plan to kill fire department

A plan to fold the city’s fire department and turn those duties over to the county met with strong resistance

By Roxanne Brown
The Daily Commercial

MASCOTTE, Fla. — Residents and council members Tuesday had their say about Mayor Tony Rosado’s idea about handing over firefighting duties in Mascotte to Lake County in order to even out a looming $500,000 budget shortfall.

Several residents spoke against it, citing concerns over firefighter job losses and longer response times to fires.

“You need a responder here in the city,” resident John Thurling said. “I think Lake County would have to be responding elsewhere quite often. I also think the fire department spent a lot of time to build and grow it from being a volunteer fire department on up, and we should keep it the way it is.”

Full story: Residents discuss ending fire department