Supervisors awarded trust fund to backcountry for departments

by Joe Naiman
For the Alpine Sun

     The San Diego County Board of Supervisors authorized the award of $200,000 of trust fund money for fire protection districts and volunteer fire departments, including $45,771 to the San Diego Rural Fire Protection District, $15,960 to the Mount Laguna Volunteer Fire Department, $10,489 to the Pine Valley Fire Protection District, and $8,515 to the Campo Volunteer Fire Department.
     The San Diego Rural Fire Protection District will upgrade the chassis on its rescue vehicle, the Mount Laguna Volunteer Fire Department will purchase new fire hose and appliances, the Pine Valley Fire Protection District will obtain a thermal imager, and the Campo Volunteer Fire Department will use the money for self-contained breathing apparatus air bottles.
     The supervisors' 5-0 vote March 23 also authorized the director of the county's Office of Emergency Services to prepare and execute agreements between the county and each of the eight recipient agencies for receipt and use of the grant funds. The Office of Emergency Services director was also authorized to approve agreement amendments.
     The county has committed $200,000 in Community Development Block
Grant funds each year for needs of the fire service and an additional $200,000, derived from the savings of refinancing the county's Otay prison, into a trust fund for the capital needs of fire agencies. Although CDBG funds are restricted to eligible neighborhoods, the trust fund awards have no such restriction. The trust fund awards can also be allocated upon execution of the proper agreements, while the CDBG process also involves submittal to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provides funding for the programs. Since 1999 the trust fund has provided more than $1.8 million to fire departments.
     Applications for both sources of funding are reviewed by volunteers from the county's Task Force on Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services, who grade the applications and make recommendations for the entire task force to approve. The task force's recommendations then go to the supervisors for approval. The task force gave its unanimous approval to the recommendations on February 19.
     The San Diego Rural rescue apparatus is 20 years old, and the trust fund money will partially fund the replacement of the chassis and other improvements to the vehicle. The Mount Laguna fire department will replace out-of-service hose and appliances with new equipment. The Pine Valley district will have the thermal imaging camera available to locate hot spots during fires or to locate downed victims in poor visibility conditions. The Campo firefighters will have the additional air bottles for use during emergencies.
 

 E-mail the Editor