Fire Dept. Seeks to Recoup Disaster Costs

The floods and mudslides that struck Ventura County in January and March cost the county Fire Department $300,000 in overtime to firefighters, plus an additional $147,000 in mud and flood damage to a station in Fillmore.

The Fire Department is requesting that the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approve an allocation of $447,000 in contingency funds to cover the unexpected costs, said Abbe’ Cohen, the department’s fiscal manager.

All but $28,000, however, is expected to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Administration because the costs were incurred during federally declared disasters, Cohen said.

Meanwhile, the Fire Department has received $550,000 in reimbursements from federal and state agencies for fighting fires last year outside the county. Firefighters battled fires in the counties of San Luis Obispo, Riverside and San Bernardino as well as in the state of Idaho in 1994, Cohen said.