A new regional fire authority that will protect more than 920,000 acres – about one-third of the county – in the backcountry became official yesterday.
The action by the Local Area Formation Commission will allow a newly created San Diego County Regional Fire Authority to oversee fire protection in rural East and North County.
“I think it's a pretty historic agreement,” county Supervisor Bill Horn said.
The authority will cover about 50,000 people in an area now served by six volunteer agencies and Cal Fire. It will be paid for by $15.5 million that county supervisors set aside in June for fire protection.
The volunteer agencies will remain but will be better-funded and administered by a fire warden, a new position.
San Diego County is the most populous in the state without a regional fire department, and officials have worked for more than a decade to try to set up and find the money for a countywide agency. Officials tried to pass a $52-a-year parcel tax earlier this month to pay for a regional fire agency, but voters narrowly turned it down. The tax money would have been used to pay for firefighting aircraft, reserve engines and other regional equipment and would have been divided among the county's fire agencies.
County officials said the authority can be formed although voters rejected the tax.
“It's taken a long time and it's been a tough road to get here,” Supervisor Dianne Jacob said.
The fire authority is one of the first steps in the process of creating a countywide agency. Jacob said she hopes to expand the regional authority within the next two years to include other parts of the unincorporated county now served by rural fire districts. After that, urban areas served by fire departments would be included.
The agencies included in the authority are De Luz Heights, Intermountain Fire and Rescue, Ocotillo Wells, Ranchita Fire and Rescue, Shelter Valley and Sunshine Summit.
Cary Coleman, chief of Intermountain, which serves the Ramona area, said that under the authority, the county can collect mitigation fees for fire protection from developers, unlike the volunteer agencies. With a regional authority, firefighters and equipment from all of the volunteer companies can be pooled, he said.
“It's my hope that one day we'll all wear the same uniform and drive the same trucks. But for now we've got to take these small steps,” he said.
Anne Krueger: (619) 593-4962; anne.krueger@uniontrib.com
