Fire Directors OK With Retooling Volunteers

Fire officials encountered little resistance Wednesday to a sweeping recommendation that calls for most of the Orange County Fire Authority’s volunteer firefighters to stop putting out flames and provide only emergency medical service.

The proposal, presented to the department’s directors at an afternoon workshop in Orange, also recommends closing two of the county’s 62 fire stations.

“Today is all about creating a healthy, safe, reliable and sustainable reserve program,” Chief Chip Prather told the board in presenting the recommendations.

After hearing the proposal, board chairwoman Susan Ritschel said, “I think the recommendations are fair. It was obvious that we needed to revamp the program, and my sense is that the board members will be supportive of the direction we’re taking.”

The board is expected to vote on the matter at its March 28 meeting. If the proposal is approved, Prather said, the intention is for an “aggressive” implementation beginning in April.

At earlier informational forums, some reserve firefighters criticized the plan. On Wednesday, however, nobody spoke against it. Bruce Newell, a volunteer officer in Modjeska Canyon who had been critical of some aspects of the plan, said, “I think it’s a positive program.”

Prather said after Wednesday’s workshop, “We’re not seeing a lot of the outrage that we expected.... I thought this was a great dialogue.”

County fire officials say the revamp is necessary because the reserve program has been falling short on several counts in recent years. The number of active volunteers, now 322, has been dwindling at a rate of 25% to 30% a year, and the reservists respond to only about half the calls they receive.

Transforming them into emergency medical-service providers would reduce the amount of initial training required of each volunteer to about 100 hours, fire officials said. And it would open the doors to potential volunteers who may not have firefighting experience.

The two fire stations targeted for closure are No. 12 in Cypress and No. 1 in Orange. Volunteer crews there would be reassigned, as would the crew at either station No. 29 or 30, both in Dana Point.