OCFA cuts volunteer firefighting program in half (California)

[Geppetto 31]

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ

Sept. 24, 2010

IRVINE – Volunteer firefighters asked the Orange County Fire Authority board to spare the reserve program, and one attorney warned the board could be in breach of its contract, but county officials decided to slash the volunteer program in half, cutting 245 reserve positions by the end of Thursday night.

The decision came at the end of a four-hour meeting by the 24-member board of directors, held in a hall packed with reserve firefighters in OCFA headquarters. Supporters of the program asked board members to spare the program, suggesting that it was management of the volunteer program that had allowed it to languish. Critics of the program pointed to a six-month evaluation of the stations, which showed that nearly half those facing elimination were unable to respond to a quarter of the calls to which they were dispatched....

http://www.ocregister.com/news/reserve-267933-county-board.html