California Man Buys Engine on e-Bay

[SHFD781 0]

California Man Buys Engine on e-Bay

By Pam Wight Staff Writer

Whittier Daily News (California)

LA HABRA HEIGHTS - Roy Francis is afraid that if a fire breaks out again in his house, he will not be as lucky as he was the first time.

The 12 minutes it took for the La Habra Heights Fire Department to arrive at his home to put out a small kitchen fire last year was unacceptably long, he said.

So Francis, 59, has taken it upon himself to "educate" the City Council and residents on what he sees as a dangerous gap in coverage - the eastern side of the city.

Francis sent a letter to 50 homes in his neighborhood about the issue and planned to read it to the council at Thursday's meeting.

"People don't usually respond until something major happens," said Francis, a 20-year veteran fire fighter. "I'm looking for a better way to deliver emergency services in La Habra Heights. I think the City Council is not educated about it and \ think the County \ will bail us out. I'm not trying to hammer anybody, only to educate them."

George Edwards, Francis' neighbor, also experienced a 12-minute response time to a fire on his property, he said.

Rather than merely complaining to the council, Edwards bought his own fire truck on eBay for $7,200, flew to New York to pick it up and drove it back home.

He has also drawn up a proposal to build a small fire station on his own property.

"We think the city has been extremely dismissive," Edwards said. "We feel that it's insulting that the city doesn't acknowledge our offer. They say it's a liability issue. But saving lives is more important than \ liability."

But La Habra Heights City Manager Ron Bates said that although having a fire station on the eastern side of the city would be helpful, the cost to the city would be at least $750,000 a year.

"The question is, what can we as a community afford?" Bates said. "We think we're providing excellent service already to the residents."

The city Fire Department uses unpaid professional firefighters who are awaiting openings in the big fire agencies, Bates said.

In addition, the city has a "mutual aid" agreement with the Los Angeles County Fire Department to provide back-up services when necessary.

"In the state of California, you can't run a fire department if you don't use certified fire fighters, anyway," he said.

pam.wight@sgvn.com

(562) 698-0955, Ext. 3029

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/a...nId=46&id=49262

I say more power to them and I hope they are able to get better fire protection to their area of town. Plus isn't that how many of the small volunteer departments were established. Because there wasn't enough protection to a certain part of town so the residents got together and did something about it. I know that is pretty much how my department was established.

[res6cue 67]

Yeah I saw that the other day on Firehouse.com. My first reaction was "good on him" but then I thought it over a bit.

First off, a 12 minute response time is ridiculous, especially for a reported kitchen/structure fire.

Secondly, I take some issue with the city manager's claim that a substation would cost $750,000 a year to operate. I call BS on that one. He stated the department is staffed by "unpaid professional firefighters", aka a fancy term for volunteers, so there shouldn't be any additional staffing costs (they may be a combo dept though, so I can't be 100% sure). You'd have to build the firehouse, possibly buy an additional piece of apparatus and pay the bills and maintenance, sure...but three quarters of a million dollars a YEAR? No way. Our department operates out of 3 stations with 16 pieces of apparatus and over 125 members to equip and maintain, and our entire annual budget for EVERYTHING is just over 1 million.

That being said, I have a few issues with the way this guy is going about it. Unfortunately, the article isn't clear on whether he's actually a member of the department in question, it only states that he's a "20-year veteran firefighter" which could mean a lot of things. I'm going to assume for the sake of argument that he's not a member. If not, he should step up and join if he's going to go out and buy a truck on his own anyway.

While it sounds noble what he's doing, in reality he's creating a liability as well as potentially setting a bad precedent. Granted, he's not just some yahoo buff, he was noted to be a certified firefighter, but still and all. We can't just have anyone going out and buying fire apparatus to protect their neighborhoods because they don't agree with our response time or policies. There are ways to petition for either increased protection or to form a new district.

In the end, I don't completely disagree with what he's doing though. Sometimes you have to really push the issue to get results. Hopefully there's more to the story though, namely that he either is a member or has the fire department on his side. Also, from the way it sounds there is a real disparity between the coverage on either side of town. Having a substation in this area may attract more volunteers and bolster the ranks. More volunteers is never a bad thing.

Well, I hope we see some follow up articles on whatever the outcome is. Incidentally, I searched eBay to try and find out what kind of truck he bought, but it must've been over a month ago because there's nothing matching in the completed listings.

Edited May 16, 2006 by res6cue