Escondido residents and firefighters spooked by last October's wildfires are up in arms over a proposed hiring freeze in the Fire Department, accusing the city of reneging on a critical promise it made to reduce response time.
They are referring to a pledge the city made in 2004, when it persuaded voters to pass an $84.4 million bond measure, Proposition P. It provided money for four fire stations – three new ones and one replacement – and a police and fire headquarters. All are under construction and are expected to be completed between this summer and next.
One of the new stations, No. 7 at 1220 N. Ash St., is the lightning rod.
The city is building the station with Proposition P money but cannot provide staffing because of a $9.8 million budget shortfall this coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The City Council's budget subcommittee recommended in a workshop Wednesday that the city freeze hiring.
That would mean Station 7, expected to open October, would have to assemble its crew from the Fire Department's existing staff of 84 people.
Residents and firefighters painted a dire scenario of an understaffed department unable to respond quickly to wildfires, which burned 36 homes in October. None of them has been rebuilt.
At the Wednesday workshop, Escondido Firefighters Association president Mike Bertrand reminded the council that voters who supported the 2004 bond measure believed they would get fully staffed fire stations.
He also said the Fire Department has added only three firefighters since 1991. But the number of emergency calls per day has nearly doubled, from 17 to 32.
As news of the proposed hiring freeze spread, more residents became upset.
“When they put Prop. P on the ballot, the fire chief went around and told us we needed to pass that bond measure so that he can guarantee a five-minute response time,” resident Dave Martin said. “For them to change it, isn't that voter fraud?”
Fire Chief Vic Reed said he never told anyone his department could reduce response time to five minutes.
“We talked about reducing response times to various neighborhoods, but I never used five minutes,” Reed said.
He said the city will continue to maintain its current response time of seven minutes and 30 seconds for 90 percent of its fire emergency calls. That response time starts when dispatchers receive the call and includes travel time.
Reed said he could do that with even fewer staff members because the stations under construction will be strategically located to cover the city more efficiently.
However, once at the scene, firefighters may be slowed if there were a hiring freeze. For instance, the department's specialized unit, which breaks down doors or shuts down power to prepare for firefighting, would have fewer people to do the work.
“There is no getting around the fact that there will be slowing down,” Reed said.
And if another wildfire of last year's magnitude hits, Reed said, the city, like last year, would not be able to fight it alone.
The council has more workshops scheduled before it adopts a formal budget.
Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler had said she wanted to dip into the city's reserves to give the department more money. Councilwoman Marie Waldron had said she wanted to fully fund the Fire Department but make further cuts elsewhere.
Angela Lau: (760) 737-7575; angela.lau@uniontrib.com
