Pine Valley residents will vote on
state fire fighter staffing

By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun

     PINE VALLEY — Pine Valley residents will soon be receiving ballots in their mailboxes, asking them to vote on the future staffing of the local fire department. The mail ballot referendum will decide whether fire fighters from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection will join the group of two paid fire fighters and 29 volunteers that currently serve in the district.
     The Pine Valley Fire Protection District board approved the referendum last month, after a judge ruled that the department must hold a vote of the district residents, or repeal its decision to bring in the CDF staff.
     The contract with CDF, which was approved by the district board in February, would have brought in state fire fighters, beginning June 1. The department would have received $720,000 a year for three years to fund the positions.
     Many residents opposed the move to bring CDF staff into the department, and collected 167 signatures to request the referendum vote.
     At the March 6 PVFPD meeting the petition was presented to the board. According to the county Registrar of Voters, 95 signatures are required to qualify for the referendum, however, it was the fire district board that ultimately had to decide whether to call a vote — and they did.
     Pine Valley's 1,330 voters will be asked to return their mail ballots by Sept. 25. The CDF contract will fall through if voters do not support it.
     Many of the opponents are fire fighters themselves; volunteers, who are concerned about their futures with the department.
     According to Ben Tulloch, PVFPD board president, the volunteer fire fighters will still be needed. Some, however, feel that they are being pushed out.
     Darlene and Mike Moore, both volunteers at the station, feel that the atmosphere at the station has changed, and according to Mike, some volunteers are quitting because of tensions.
     The petition that was circulated throughout the community reads, “[We] believe that the Pine Valley Fire Protection District should be preserved… We believe in local control of our fire protection and emergency medical services… The majority of our Pine Valley fire fighters live in the district and care about our community.”
     “We’re not opposed to the California Department of Forestry,” Mike Moore said. “We work fine with them. We just don’t want to be taken over by them.”
     “CDF does not dissolve fire stations,” said Stephen Davis, “Pine Valley FD would remain as it is, the Pine Valley reserve and volunteer program would continue to function as it always has.”

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