Supervisors send proposed county fire protection district to LAFCO

The concept of separating the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority from the agency responsible for the San Diego County Regional Communications System has now received formal support from the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

The supervisors’ 5-0 vote, June 2, adopted a resolution to initiate Local Agency Formation Commission proceedings which would create the San Diego County Fire Protection District and remove the fire protection and emergency services latent powers from the county service area which includes the RCS.

“The action before the board today is another really big step in the evolution of the San Diego County Fire Authority,” Supervisor Dianne Jacob said.

“It’s a phenomenal achievement and really adds to the firefighting capabilities of the unincorporated area,” Supervisor Jim Desmond said.

County Service Area No. 135 covers the entire unincorporated area of the county as well as several incorporated cities who have joined the 800 MHz communications system which allows emergency and public safety agencies to communicate with one another.

The 2008 decision to authorize latent powers for fire protection and emergency medical services within a zone of CSA No. 135 allowed the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority to be created without the process of forming a new district.

The creation brought territory not within the boundaries of a public agency but served by a volunteer fire department into the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority.

In 2011, five county service areas responsible for fire protection and emergency medical services were consolidated into the SDCRFA. The first fire protection districts to be dissolved and added to the SDCRFA boundaries were the Pine Valley and San Diego Rural districts, whose addition to the SDCRFA was approved in 2015.

The Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District board supported a consolidation and despite some public opposition that area became part of the SDCRFA in 2019. Last year’s actions also included removing the fire protection and emergency medical services latent powers from the Mootamai, Pauma and Yuima water districts in Pauma Valley and making those areas part of the SDCRFA.

The county has invested more than half a billion dollars in fire protection since 2003.

“Where we stand today has been worth it,” Jacob said.

A municipal service review evaluates an area’s services and anticipated needs, and a sphere of influence study determines the boundaries best served by a particular agency. Both are prerequisites to any jurisdictional change other than an annexation of land within the existing sphere of influence, and LAFCO also conducts periodic municipal service review and sphere of influence updates for all cities and special districts.

On May 4, the LAFCO board considered a municipal service review for CSA No. 135, which was based on the periodic update calendar rather than on any annexation proposal, and an 8-0 vote approved the update including support for a recommendation that the SDCRFA be separated from the San Diego County Regional Communications System. LAFCO’s June 1 meeting included an 8-0 vote to set separate spheres of influences for the RCS and the SDCRFA.

The LAFCO board can waive processing fees to incentivize a reorganization, and LAFCO executive officer Keene Simonds has encouraged the board to do that for the separation of the two CSA No. 135 functions.

“It’s like a baby that was born in 2008 has now become an adult,” Jacob said of the separate fire protection district.

A fire protection district may include portions or even the entirety of an incorporated city, so if a city wishes to contract with the SDCRFA, the regional agency could provide the coverage. An application to consolidate into the SDCRFA would need support from the fire department’s board as well as the county.

The San Diego County Fire Protection District would be a dependent special district, meaning that the board of supervisors would be the board members. A dependent special district can have an advisory board with local residents or first responders, and as part of the consolidation process for the Pine Valley and San Diego Rural districts, the board of supervisors created the CSA No. 135 Fire Advisory Board in October 2014.

LAFCO staff will conduct an analysis including public outreach before docketing the proposed separation of the current agency’s functions for a LAFCO board meeting.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].