Countywide : Westminster Studying 6 Fire Service Offers
Orange County, three of its cities and two private firms are bidding to provide fire services for Westminster.
Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, the Orange County Fire Authority and the private firms of Rural/Metro of Scottsdale, Ariz., and ARC Technologies of Carlsbad have made fire service proposals, City Manager Bill Smith said.
“Fire service lends itself to regionalization, and I think we owe it to the council to investigate it and to see if we can provide good service at less cost,” Smith said.
Smith said the city is reviewing the bids this week and expects to make a recommendation to the City Council on May 23. The estimated cost savings range from several hundred dollars a year to more than $2 million, he said.
The city’s Fire Department budget this year is about $7.3 million. The department has 66 employees, and of those, 61 are firefighters.
Smith said all of the proposals would keep open the city’s three fire stations and would not cut staffing.
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