By Sandra Stokley
The Press Enterprise
RUBIDOUX, Calif. — Directors of the Rubidoux Community Services District voted in February to cut fire service to one engine company starting July 1.
But the fight to keep an engine company and truck company operating out of Station 38 is not over as far as the CDF Firefighters Union is concerned.
Last week a billboard went up across the street from Station 38 on Mission Boulevard advising that “The Water Board is Wrong,” and providing the name and number of general manager David Lopez for residents to call with protests about the cuts.
The billboard, which will remain up for about a month, is paid for by the CDF Firefighters Union, Local 2881, said Ray Martinez, director of the Riverside Chapter.
“The call volume in Rubidoux continues to rise, and now they’re going to take a piece of equipment away,” Martinez said this week. “And who is going to suffer? The public is going to suffer.”
The district contracts with CAL Fire/Riverside County Fire Department for residents within its service area, which includes Belltown, Paramount Estates, Jurupa Hills and a small sliver of San Bernardino County as well as Rubidoux.
For the current fiscal year, the contract cost is $2.1 million, which pays for staffing a fire engine and a truck company.
Lopez said the district estimates it will receive $1.9 million in property tax for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The estimated cost for one engine company is $1.6 million.
Lopez said he has not received any calls as a result of the billboard.
He disputed Martinez’s contention that calls for emergency response were going up in the area.
He said call volume had actually dropped to about 2,100 calls per year from a high of 2,400 calls several years ago.
Riverside County Fire Chief John Hawkins said a proposal for the county to take over fire service in Rubidoux to keep fire service from being cut remains on the negotiating table.
Hawkins said that in return for providing fire service, the county would want the district’s structural fire tax money and the portion of property tax it uses to pay for the contract.
Lopez said that proposal is unacceptable.
“That would leave us no property tax,” Lopez said.
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