Julian fire district rejects county, opts to go it alone

The directors of the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District have again opted not to join the San Diego County Fire Authority — a move that will lessen their ability to respond to medical emergencies and structure fires in the area.

Citing a desire to retain local control, a distrust of the county, and pinning their hopes on a probable bond measure next year in which they will ask the approximately 2,500 residents of the area to triple a fire benefit fee, the board recently voted 4-1 to remain independent.

The decision means that come Jan. 1 the county will withdraw a fully staffed paramedic fire engine that has been based in Julian for the past two years. The county also will end a $60,000 subsidy of the volunteer department and an arrangement to automatically respond to emergencies with Cal Fire/Authority engines in the Julian district.

Cal Fire has jurisdiction throughout the area to suppress wildland fires, but in the Julian and Cuyamaca areas it’s the Julian department that responds to structure fires, traffic accidents and medical emergencies. Along with protecting the thousands who live in the area, they also respond to emergencies involving the tens of thousands of tourists that find their way up the hill each year for apple pie, shopping, joy riding and a taste of nature.

The county feels that Julian has broken a commitment to join the Fire Authority it made two years ago when it signed a contract that brought the fully staffed paramedic engine to town. Julian agreed in the contract to consider joining the authority, but according to its board, did not commit to doing so.

Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who has championed the authority since its creation in 2008 following two devastating firestorms that decade that began in the backcountry, feels differently.

“Julian signed a deal with the county that they would initiate the dissolution (of their fire district),” Jacob said recently. “A deal is a deal. They needed to make a decision at some point whether they were going to dissolve and become a part of the County Fire Authority, knowing they are going to lose the county money if they don’t. It’s always been a community decision.”

Julian Fire Board President Jack Shelver, the only board member who voted against a motion to decline the county’s offer, said the contract indicated the district would consider joining the county before it expired on Jan. 1, 2018. He said the county came to the district this summer with a proposal that would begin the process of absorbing the district, something the county wanted to make happen even though it would cost about $1.5 million. But after meetings were held in the community, the decision was made Sept. 12 to go it alone yet again.

The decision clearly worries Julian Fire Chief Rick Marinelli. He said the 10 volunteer firefighters in the district were all opposed to joining the county, but the result of the board’s decision to reject the county will be serious.

“This is all about level of service,” Marinelli said. “We do okay as a volunteer fire department with our current budget. Now that the county has taken away (the paramedic engine, its automatic response commitment, a water tender truck and) the $60,000 (annual stipend), it’s going to impact us substantially. It’s going to put a big reduction in our service level. The controversy really comes from what level of service do we feel like we want to provide to the public. Some feel like we should be providing paramedic-level assessment service on our fire trucks. Some don’t feel it’s necessary.”

There is one ambulance in the Julian area. Under the current county contract, when there is a traffic accident or medical emergency, the ambulance responds as does the paramedic fire truck. Should the ambulance be out of the area transporting someone to the hospital, the paramedic engine will respond and stabilize the patient until another ambulance responds under the county’s mutual aid system. That truck will not be available come the end of the year, potentially leaving the area without any medical responders for what could be critical amounts of time.

Aida Tucker, the vice president of the Julian fire board, said there are several reasons she and other members voted against the deal. Everyone conceded the volunteer department is going to be stretched thinner, but other concerns and desires superseded that worry.

“Those in support of independence believe this is an historical town and (the volunteer department) is part of our town,” she said. “They don’t want to get rid of it.”

She said the board doesn’t trust the county and she doesn’t like the idea that the Julian district recently built a new fire station that the county would take over if the Fire Authority took control.

Before signing the two-year contract in 2015 that brought the paramedic engine to town, a measure was put on the 2014 ballot to increase the benefit fee tax that each homeowner in the service area pays toward fire protection. Needing 66.6 percent to pass, it failed with only 46.6 percent of voters agreeing to raise their taxes.

But Turner said there are plans to put another bond measure on the ballot next year to raise the benefit fee from $50 to $200. Because of a recent California Supreme Court decision that is still being litigated, such a citizen-initiated bond might require only a majority vote to pass. Turner also said the state’s decision to end a $150 tax on property bills in rural areas for rural fire protection could prove pivotal.

Perhaps voters can be convinced to view the $150 benefit fee increase as something that replaces the state tax, he said, but this time the money would go directly to Julian rather than Sacramento.

But even if the benefit fee passes, Chief Marinelli said, it still wouldn’t be enough extra money to bring the district back to the level of service it currently enjoys. A benefit fee of $350 to $400 would be required to allow the district to hire firefighter-paramedics to staff an engine full time.

Fire Authority Chief Tony Mecham wonders how Julian will fair. “They will be completely on their own after Jan. 1,” he said.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones