In early 2019, voters in Julian will decide the fate of their volunteer fire department. On Tuesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors called a special election on the matter.
Also on Tuesday, two new members were sworn in to the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Prevention District board. Both have said they support keeping the district independent.
Earlier this year, the previous fire prevention board voted 3 to 2 to dissolve the volunteer fire force that had been serving the Julian community since the 1980s. Aida Tucker was one of the members to vote for dissolution, and in October she told KPBS it was a budget issue.
"I looked at the budget and saw that there’s no way we were going to be able to make it in the next couple years. We probably would be broke by then without any extra help, so thinking about the community and what they deserve, I decided to go ahead and vote to dissolve the district," Tucker said.
RELATED: Julian Volunteer Firefighters Battle To Preserve Their District
The San Diego County Fire Authority is now using Cal Fire employees to provide emergency services to the area.
"We still have Cal Fire staff and San Diego County Fire Authority staff that are on engine 256, one of the fire engines based out of station 56 here in Julian, that are responding and protecting the community of Julian," said Isaac Sanchez, Cal Fire captain.
But supporters of the volunteers say they do not trust the county or Cal Fire to maintain service.
"I really honestly truly believe that the Julian volunteer fire department can provide better services than the county or Cal Fire here in this area," said Pat Landis, a concerned citizen and former board member who started the non-profit Julian Fire Plugs to help raise money for the volunteer fire department.
Two months ago, activists gathered enough voter signatures to force a vote to try to reverse the dissolution. County supervisors have scheduled that special election for March 19, 2019.
