$26 Million Needed to Forge Unified San Diego Fire Agency

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published December 3, 2007 at 12:41 PM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego officials took a step today towards creating a unified fire protection agency for the county's backcountry. But the decision leaves open the question of where the money will come from. KPBS

San Diego officials took a step today towards creating a unified fire protection agency for the county's backcountry. But the decision leaves open the question of where the money will come from. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

San Diego is the only large California County with no coordinated fire protection plan for its backcountry.

A state commission made up of locally appointed officials has now approved a plan to consolidate multiple special districts and volunteer fire agencies into a regional fire protection system. They sent the plan on the County supervisors.

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Supervisor Dianne Jacob supports the idea.

Jacob : This was a landmark decision today, and now the ball's in our court.

However, Jacob acknowledges she doesn't know where the money will come from -- an estimated $26 million.

Commissioner Andrew Mensheck says the county should put the issue on the ballot.

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Mensheck : Then we need to go to the public and it's time: do you or do you not want to pay for fire protection?

The plan would extend fire protection coverage to more than 900,000 acres in San Diego's unincorporated backcountry.

Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.