GARDEN GROVE : Resources Stretched Thin for Emergencies

Financially strapped Garden Grove spends less for emergency service and fire protection than any city in Orange County with a population of more than 100,000.

Citing a survey conducted for the Orange County Grand Jury last year, Fire Chief Lon Cahill said the city spends $66.20 on fire services for each of the city’s 148,000 residents, the lowest per capita spending rate for Orange County cities with 100,000-plus residents.

Fullerton is second lowest at $68.47. The county average is $88.96, the survey found.

Thanks to a continuing budget squeeze, the Garden Grove department has been forced to cut still more--eliminating six positions in June, including three paramedic slots. A 1971 ladder truck that would cost $500,000 to replace also is nearing its final days and money to replace it is not readily available.

Fire Department veterans say resources seem never to have been stretched so thin in a city where 29 firefighters are on duty at seven fire stations around the clock.

Yet the department continues to get high marks for efficiency and aggressive firefighting style and receives several unsolicited calls each week from residents expressing thanks for its help, Cahill said.

He said his department has cut out frills “and very closely scrutinizes all purchases.” Spending for conferences and travel has been all but eliminated.

Yet the Fire Department still manages to fulfill its full range of duties of fire protection, paramedic services, hazardous materials cleanups and fire inspections while directing city’s emergency responses in times of natural disaster, he said.

Cahill said he believes that his department has been on the leading edge of doing more with less for for so long that “frugality is in our genes.”

“We do an outstanding job putting the fires out and saving the people that need emergency services,” he said.

While they still can handle single emergency calls adequately, Fire Capt. Jim Perkins worries that multiple incidents at the same time could overtax the department’s staff and resources, which he said are “unquestionably” the thinnest in years.

Perkins’ unit, based at the Chapman Avenue-Gilbert Street station, is the backup company for the entire city. He said he is concerned that his medic engine team could be handling a call at a distant location when an emergency arises elsewhere in the city and help would not be available.