COUNTYWIDE : Free Changing to Fee for False Fire Alarms

When the County Fire Department responds to a false alarm, there’s no charge. But that will change as of Jan. 1, when false alarms will cost at least $105, and other services that were once free will also come with price tags.

Faced with a projected $99-million deficit by the year 2000, the department has asked that cities whose fire services are handled by the county begin charging for those calls.

Yorba Linda and Stanton recently passed ordinances implementing the fees, and the county decided in July that residents of unincorporated areas will pay the fees as of Jan. 1, Wood said. Irvine, which has approved some of the fees, is expected to adopt the rest within the next few months, as are 11 other cities that contract with the department.

Cities that have their own fire departments already charge for similar services, noted Hugh Wood, a department administrative official.

“We’re just matching,” he said.

Wood estimated that the new fees would cut the county department’s projected deficit by about $24 million over the next decade. “It was either find new sources of revenue or cut back on service,” he said.