Irvine’s Fire ‘Leverage’ Like Pulling False Alarm

A fire station open house is one of those events I always mean to take in but then forget about as my family’s weekend gets busy.

Not this time.

Two unrelated events--one sad, the other disturbing--are important backdrops to open houses today at 60 stations operated by the Orange County Fire Authority in 19 cities and unincorporated areas.

The open houses had been postponed from the week before, for the funeral of Capt. Thomas O. Wall, 44, a veteran firefighter from Tustin. Wall suffered a fatal heart attack Oct. 5 after intense efforts fighting one of the multiple brush fires in Riverside County.

The open houses offer more than a chance to educate our children about fire equipment and fire safety. They serve to remind that firefighting often involves courage and determination we too often overlook.

But something else has surfaced to underscore the importance of public safety. Those in the Fire Authority are now working under a threat of extortion.

Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea calls it “leverage.” She must be reading the Clintonian dictionary. Extortion is the only apt definition for what she and fellow council member David Christensen are up to.

This week they proposed that Irvine, the largest contributor to the Fire Authority, threaten to withdraw its support from the regional group--unless eight of its northern cities agree to drop support for an international airport at the El Toro Marine Base. Irvine is among the leaders of the anti-airport movement.

The airport and firefighting should be unrelated topics. Unless you buy Christensen’s argument that both are “quality-of-life issues.” That would require a mental quantum leap even the Golden Gate Bridge couldn’t span.

No, this is a simple case of the schoolyard bully demanding half your lunch to let you pass by. It might be legal extortion, but it’s still just as nasty as the word is intended to be.

And it’s so ludicrous. What would these northern cities do, put up billboards saying, “We now oppose an airport at El Toro. Psst . . . not really, but we’ve got this gun to our heads.”

Irvine’s withdrawal could be a fatal bullet too. Many believe it could cripple the Fire Authority to the point of dissolution. That would mean public safety panic in smaller cities like Los Alamitos or Tustin.

Fortunately, it’s not all that easy for Irvine to pack up its marbles and go home. The $5 million-plus it contributes to the Fire Authority--beyond the service it receives--comes from property tax dollars. Any rearrangement of those funds would require approval from the county Board of Supervisors. And at least four of those five supervisors are too level-headed to let any disasters occur.

Also, Irvine City Manager Paul Brady points out that it would cost a whopping sum close to $15 million extra for Irvine to set up its own fire shop.

That convinces Supervisor William G. Steiner, whose district covers most of those smaller northern cities, that Irvine’s Shea and Christensen won’t get enough support from their own council to do what they have threatened.

“I think cooler heads will eventually prevail,” Steiner said. “I serve with Mayor Shea on two other boards, and I’ve always known her to come down on the side of doing the right thing.”

This isn’t the first time, however, that Shea and her fellow council members have played the airport card. Newport Beach had to come up with a meaningless but symbolic gesture toward its neighbor before it could annex Irvine’s Bonita Canyon development. In exchange, it agreed not to oppose any Irvine attempts to annex the Marine base. That doesn’t stop Newport Beach, though, from being actively pro-airport at El Toro.

It is a legitimate issue that Irvine deserves to see some realignment of the way the Fire Authority is funded. From its beginning in 1995, everyone agreed that the smaller cities would eventually have to become more self-sufficient. But bringing the El Toro airport to the bargaining table smacks of arm-twisting to make the playing field unlevel.

Interestingly, the county is the second-largest contributor to the Fire Authority. And the county supervisors, by a 3-2 margin, are pro-airport. What if they threatened to pull out of the Fire Authority unless Irvine agreed to become pro-airport too? Shea and Christensen would be the first to cry extortion.

Others unhappy with Irvine’s tactics are choosing their words more delicately than me. But they are just as angry.

Los Alamitos Mayor Ron Bates sent out a news release Friday, signed by seven other mayors or council members from six other cities, saying they were all “collectively dismayed” at Irvine’s threat.

“It is the first time in Orange County’s history where one city has threatened other cities to ‘Do it my way or the highway,’ ” their release states. “All Orange County cities have a right to choose their position on El Toro. Such an action (as Irvine’s) relegates the lives and safety of thousands of people in Orange County to being merely pawns in an out-of-control chess game over El Toro Airport.”

And here’s the bottom line of their position: “Orange County cities will not be held ransom to the vagaries of political street-fighting.”

Most firefighters were too busy Friday preparing for today’s open houses to worry about such political shenanigans. I stopped at Station #21, on Irvine Boulevard in Tustin, to see what their plans were. That’s the station where Captain Wall had worked.

When I arrived, the crew there had just received an alarm call and took off. I came back 20 minutes later, and again the alarm sounded before any firefighters there could talk with me. But one woman stood at the door to wait patiently for their return, and talked in their place. She was Chris Wall, the captain’s wife. Since her husband’s death, that station he loved so much has been a big part of her life.

“These guys are my support group,” she said. “My husband thought they were just a great bunch, and they are.”

In Washington, it’s said that politics has to stop at the water’s edge. In Orange County, it ought to stop at the fire line. The men and women putting on these open houses don’t deserve to have the airport brouhaha thrown in their face before they can do their job.

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Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com