Voters Reject Fire Dept. Merger With L.A. County
City voters in a special election have overwhelmingly rejected a measure to allow the county to take over the city Fire Department.
The measure to allow the massive Los Angeles County Fire Protection District to absorb the West Covina Fire Department was defeated Tuesday with 70.8% of voters opposing the change and 29.2% supporting the proposal.
The West Covina firefighters union, which collected signatures to place the measure on the ballot, failed to convince voters of the merits of a change. Local firefighters had argued that the measure would save money.
But current and former council members contended that the city’s fire service had better response times and that the county’s higher pay motivated local firefighters.
If voters had approved the measure, the county would have gotten the department’s equipment for free but would have been required to hire city firefighters.
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