This write up from Supervisor Pat Bates -- the volunteer program had deep roots in San Juan Capistrano. Councilman Mark Nielsen, who represents SJC on the Orange County Fire Authority Board, voted to shut down the program because of poor response from the volunteers, he said.
From Bates:
Orange County Fire Authority to Disband Volunteer Firefighters Program
At Thursday night’s Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Board of Directors meeting, the Board of Directors voted 15 – 6 with 1 abstention to disband volunteer firefighter units at eleven of the OCFA’s fire stations, including three within the Fifth District.
Facing rising costs to train and equip volunteer Reserve Firefighters, in May 2009 the OCFA Board formed a Reserve Firefighter Program Ad-Hoc committee to review the long-term feasibility of continuing the Reserve program, which consists of 21 squads made up of 259 reservists. As part of that study the Board also adopted the requirement that beginning in January 2010, if a station is deficient upon 6 months of review (January 1 – June 30), the station is to be allowed 6 additional months (July 1 to December 31) for the opportunity to correct its deficiencies in order to avoid closure.
At a Special Board Study Session held September 9, staff presented the final report and recommended that the Board dissolve 11 of the 23 reserve stations due to not meeting established performance standards. At that time, I asked that the Board follow the process set forth by our earlier board directive which requires deficient stations be allowed additional time to address deficiencies. Unfortunately, that motion failed and the staff recommendation to dissolve 11 of the 23 reserve stations was again placed on this week’s agenda.
I did not vote in favor of this action for several reasons. Our Board of Directors adopted a directive in May 2009 to allow deficient stations an additional 6 months following the evaluation period to fix their squads and raise their performance.
The action taken did not respect the original Board directive as it accelerated that process and did not allow deficient squads the chance to address their performance issues. I believe that there are options that deserved to be initiated that could have potentially helped deficient squads raise their performance standards and remain on the job.
A critical need to reduce costs in the FY10-11 budget was the reason given for accelerating the elimination of these units instead of giving them the promised time to correct deficiencies. While that might be a short-term solution, I remain concerned that the true picture of long-term community and financial impacts of eliminating a well-trained and supervised volunteer firefighter program has the potential for serious unintended consequences. A more thorough analysis of these long-term impacts needs to be part of the second review of the remaining volunteer reserve stations. I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to the volunteers who have given dedicated service to their communities for many long years.
Meet Your Local Firefighters
The public is invited to meet their local firefighters and learn how to protect family and property during two educational and fun-filled community events hosted by the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) in October.
Meet your local OCFA firefighters Saturday, October 2, during a special open house from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM at your local OCFA Fire Station.
The Oct. 2 event, which caters to people of all ages, will be followed by OCFA’s 5th Annual Open House on Saturday, October 9, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at 1 Fire Authority Road in Irvine.
The open house will include live demonstrations and a host of activities, as well as important information for protecting homes and property through OCFA’s "Ready! Set! Go!" program.
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