CYPRESS : Firefighter Calls Station Substandard

A firefighter this week called on the City Council to expand fire services after disclosing a personal investigation in which he found that Cypress Volunteer Fire Station No. 12 is ineffective.

Craig Campbell, a Cypress resident and a firefighter for the city of Westminster, spent more than two hours Monday telling the council and about 60 residents of statistics and other information he has compiled on the station since he began his investigation 14 months ago. The council agreed to put the report on its agenda after repeated requests by Campbell.

Campbell and his supporters want to do away with the 23 volunteers who staff Station 12, one of three county-run stations that serve Cypress. The volunteers, he said, are not as experienced as career firefighters and get minimal training, endangering residents’ lives.

“I want a paid, full-time engine in that station,” Campbell said.

Officials of the Orange County Fire Department, who attended the meeting to hear the results of Campbell’s investigation, said Campbell’s conclusions are faulty. Cypress, which is served by county Stations 12, 13 and 17 as part of a regional fire protection system, has a combination of volunteer and full-time paid firefighters, all of whom, the officials said, are well-trained.

“The Keystone Cops image (Campbell) painted is untrue,” Station 12 Capt. Harry Gardikis told the council. He added that volunteers receive the required training, are drilled weekly and that many are career firefighters or employed in related fields.

Campbell said his interest in Station 12 started after he heard complaints from some of the station’s staff and other county firefighters that it did not operate effectively. In his investigation, Campbell looked at the operation’s last eight years, compiling information from sources within the county department who he said risked their jobs to provide the data.

The documentation, he said, shows that Station 12, which served as a first-response station for its area, failed to respond to emergencies at least 40 times since 1983 and that response times have been over the five-minute standard.

City Manager Darrell Essex and county fire Division Chief Jerry Hunter denied that the station failed to respond to emergencies. Hunter conceded that the station’s response time had once been as long as 6 1/2 minutes. However, he added that response time has been under the five-minute standard since Station 12 was converted to a supplemental unit to nearby Stations 13 and 17 a year and a half ago.

“I think the problems (Campbell) has been raising have been addressed,” Essex said.

City and county fire officials also said Campbell’s conclusion was in error because other stations respond simultaneously to Station 12 alarms.

“We can prove by our own statistics that a full-time career company is not necessary at Station 12. In fact, the strategic importance of 12 is becoming of less importance as time goes on and 13 and 17 become (better equipped),” Orange County Fire Department Capt. Dan Young said Tuesday. “The community couldn’t get better fire protection. We get the job done, and we meet and exceed our standards.”

Young said volunteers are fully trained as firefighters but man a station at a fraction of the cost of a full-time firefighter. Rather than a weekly wage, volunteers are “reimbursed” $7.50 for a response, he said.

The volunteers are required to work or live within a few miles of their designated station and are on 24-hour call, Young added. Stations using volunteers are aware of the minimum number who are available to respond on any given day.

Although county fire officials disputed Campbell’s finding, the council agreed to schedule a public hearing for Jan. 27 to consider the possibility of eliminating the volunteer station. “Frankly, if his goal is to replace Station 12 with fully paid (firefighters), we’re talking about an annual operating cost of close to $2 or $3 million,” Essex said.

“If we can show statistically that we are not covered like the rest of the county, I’d be the first to try to get additional fire coverage if we do need it,” he added. “But I have been happy with the product.”