The fate of the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District is now in the hands of voters with Measure A.
A "yes" vote on the initiative would dissolve the district and its volunteer force. Fire protection would then be handed over to the San Diego County Fire Authority.
"There are a lot of small government people up here who just don't trust anything bigger than their neighbor," said Michael Hart, editor of The Julian News. He has been covering the fire department for years, most recently following a complicated series of events leading up to the special election.
"The average person that lives in Julian is confused because they don’t know what to believe," Hart said.
Last year, the Fire Protection Board voted 3 to 2 to dissolve the district and consolidate with the County Fire Authority. The County Fire Authority, which contracts with CAL FIRE, moved into the Julian fire station in June.
In the fall, the commissioners from the San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission voted to dissolve the district. LAFCO's rules, however, state that if 25 percent of registered voters in the district sign a petition, a special election will be held on the issue. The volunteer firefighters and their supporters were able to gather enough signatures to call for an election.
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It gets even more complex.
The Fire Protection Board members who voted to dissolve the district are no longer on the board. Now all the board members support the volunteers.
Bill Everett is one of the new board members.
"Things certainly have changed," he said. "We now have a board that is really supportive of our fire district and really supportive of our firefighters and really doesn’t believe that the dissolution of the district is going to provide the district with the best possible emergency services."
While the volunteers now have more support, money is still a concern. The old board had voted for dissolution because of financial concerns. Since then, Julian residents voted against a measure to increase funding for the volunteer district from $50 per household to $200 per household.
Despite that, the new board believes they have enough money to sustain the volunteers.
"We're just simply going to make it work. That's part of what our strategic plan is about to make sure that we have the financing and the funding to be able to provide the service that we say we're going to provide," Everett said.
Not everyone in Julian thinks the volunteers are the community's best option. Carl Englund heads up the Yes on Measure A campaign. He thinks it makes more sense to work with the county.
"It doesn't seem rational to most people that we would turn down $2 million a year and a full time 24/7, 365 days a week professional fire organization," he said.
The union that represents CAL FIRE firefighters also supports Measure A. They say if it fails, there won't be an automatic aid agreement for responding to emergencies in the area. Patrick Walker is the vice president of the union chapter for San Diego County. He says CAL FIRE would respond to wildfires, but not traffic accidents or medical calls.
"What it is, is the 99 other calls we have to go to, the person that crashes on the sled or crashes on the 78 coming to visit... those are the calls we need to be concerned about," he said.
Ballots in the special election are due on March 19. Ballots are expected to be counted later this week.
