Riverside County supervisors Tuesday approved fire protection services agreements between the county and the cities of Beaumont, Canyon Lake, Eastvale, Rancho Mirage and Temecula, ensuring uninterrupted emergency responses for the next one to three years.
Each of the municipalities, with the exception of Canyon Lake, has consistently maintained first responder agreements with the county for decades.
The Riverside County Fire Department’s largest contract is with Temecula, which has agreed to a three-year service agreement valued at $54.2 million.
According to county officials, the amount increased over the previous three-year compact due to the city council’s desire to open Station No. 95 on South Loop Road, adding to the number of personnel available for deployments.
The Eastvale City Council also opened a firehouse, Station No. 31, on Chandler Street. That facility became operational in the current fiscal year and increased staffing citywide. The three-year agreement with the county will total roughly $15 million, according to fire department documents.
Beaumont’s three-year agreement contains no staffing modifications and is valued at $9.6 million.
Canyon Lake was the only contracting entity that sought a one-year term. Under its agreement, the city will pay the county just over $2 million for firefighting, medic and rescue services until June 30, 2019.
Canyon Lake terminated fire protection services and shuttered its lone Vacation Drive fire station in July 2015 during a legal battle with the county. For about two years, the gated community of 11,000 was dependent on mutual aid, with county fire crews coming from Lake Elsinore and Menifee, to service the locality. Each emergency response was paid like an on-demand service but left the city exposed to response times stretching up to 15 minutes per call.
The city’s main conflict with the county was having to pay increasing amounts annually for fire protection, which council members argued was draining the general fund. Supervisor Kevin Jeffries last year brokered a deal to slash firefighter staffing from three to two per shift as part of a compromise to get the firehouse re-opened and lower the city’s expenses.
However, that deal was patchwork, and Canyon Lake has agreed under the new contract terms to return to mandatory three-person staffing on fire engines.
Each of the cities’ councils approved their respective fire protection agreements last month.