Creation of Countywide Fire Unit Is Issue Too Hot for San Diego Group

In its first official action, a blue-ribbon task force searching for ways to bolster fire protection in the wake of the recent wildfires decided Tuesday to sidestep one of the more controversial issues: whether San Diego County needs a countywide fire department.

“It’s such a hot potato it will drive us nuts,” said Sheriff Bill Kolender, co-chairman of the Regional Fire Emergency Preparedness Task Force.

Instead, at the suggestion of San Diego Fire Chief Jeff Bowman, task force members decided to recommend that the city and county governments hire an outside consultant to study the issue.

“This is not the right group to consider a county fire department,” said Bowman, noting that numerous members of the task force are employed by fire departments.

San Diego County is the only large county in California without a countywide fire department; it relies instead on 60-plus local, state, regional, military and tribal fire agencies.

Meeting for the first time, the 25-member task force was reminded that nearly all the problems of inadequate staffing, equipment, training and communication that had hampered firefighters battling the Cedar and Paradise fires had been noted in previous reports on the county’s frugal, patchwork approach to fire protection.

Ron Saathoff, president of the San Diego firefighters union, said the task force was looking at the same issues as a task force formed after the 1985 fire in the city’s Normal Heights neighborhood, which destroyed 123 homes. That task force made a series of recommendations.

“All those recommendations are in a report which is collecting dust in a cabinet,” he said.

Although the task force agreed not to tackle the issue of forming a county fire department, it decided to discuss the related matter of whether having multiple agencies spread throughout the county is an efficient use of manpower and equipment. Concerns over local control have led to the defeat over the last two decades of several proposals for consolidation of smaller agencies.

The task force agreed to look at “successful strategies” in other regions -- a bold move in a county where officials and residents have long prided themselves on not being influenced by other counties.

“These fires are not unique,” Bowman said. “We need to look at the lessons learned elsewhere.”

The task force was formed by San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox and San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy after the October fires destroyed more than 3,200 homes and other structures and caused 14 deaths. The task force has been told to provide an interim report early next year.

Making a brief appearance, Cox appeared taken aback at the size of the group, a sign of how many agencies have responsibility for fire protection and also how difficult it will be to turn recommendations into action.

“It’s a big group,” Cox said, “but it’s an important group.”

As an advisory group, the task force does not have the authority to require changes in fire and building codes or to order local agencies to increase their budgets for fire protection.