Westminster to Decide Who Will Fight Fires

The fate of Westminster’s Fire Department could be decided tonight, when the City Council considers disbanding the agency and contracting with the Orange County Fire Authority for services.

City Manager Bill Smith said he is recommending that the city award a contract to the county fire authority, which already provides fire service to 18 Orange County cities and has submitted a bid that is $1.6 million less than what Westminster is spending annually for its own fire protection.

The switch would have an impact beyond the city limits, however. It could put financial pressure on the Central Net Operations Authority, a joint effort of Westminster, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Newport Beach that coordinates across city borders to offer training and ensure rapid response time by providing dispatch services.

Huntington Beach, one of five entities besides Orange County vying to provide fire services to Westminster, last week lowered its initial bid, in part to try to keep Westminster’s contribution to the Central Net, Huntington Beach Fire Division Chief Tom Huntley said.

If the county is awarded the contract, Huntley said, Central Net’s budget would lose Westminster’s annual share of about $380,000, as well as its participation in programs at the $4-million training and dispatch facility.

And that revenue loss, said Huntington Beach Battalion Chief Duane Olson, could mean cuts in programs and staffing, including dispatchers, which he said would reduce response time.

Olson said it is doubtful that the county would use the facility, for it has its own dispatch operations. The county had used the Central Net training center until this year, he said, but canceled its $45,000-a-year contract after its Dec. 6 bankruptcy filing.

“At this point, no other agency wants to share resources,” Olson said.

But Westminster’s Smith said he will recommend contracting with the county because that would save the city more than $9 million over the five-year life of the agreement.

“We compared current service levels with each of the proposers,” he said, “and the county fire authority came in with the lowest cost by far.”

Smith said the total cost for the county to provide fire service to the city would be $5.9 million a year, with no increases for the first three years. The city Fire Department’s budget is now $7.5 million a year, he said, equivalent to 30% of the city’s $25-million general fund budget.

Under the county’s proposal, Smith said the department’s 74 employees, including 66 firefighters and eight office personnel, would be absorbed.

Smith said that response times to calls would be the same as those now from the city’s Fire Department.

Besides Orange County and Huntington Beach, Westminster also received fire service bids from Garden Grove, Santa Ana and two private firms.