CYPRESS : Council Hears Critic of Fire Station 12

During the past several years, the all-volunteer firefighting force at Station 12 has missed several calls, even failing to respond when a baby was not breathing, a Westminster firefighter alleged Monday night in an emotionally charged hearing to determine whether the station was properly doing its job.

For nearly five hours, Craig Campbell, a captain with the Westminster Fire Department, squared off against county fire officials in his quest to get paid firefighters in the city’s only volunteer station, operated by the Orange County Fire Department.

Campbell held what he claimed was official county documentation listing a number of calls to which the station failed to respond, and an admission by county officials that there were problems. “This is people’s lives at stake,” Campbell said. County fire officials were on hand to counter Campbell’s allegations. The officials argued that the volunteer force was an economical way to meet the city’s needs and scoffed at claims that it was endangering people’s lives.

“It is not a fly-by-night operation,” said Chief Larry Holmes, director of fire services for the Orange County Fire Department. “It is a group of dedicated people serving their neighbors.”

Assistant Chief of Operations Chip Prather presented a series of statistics and told the council that the station responded within five minutes to each call. Because the county works under a regional system, the station is automatically backed up by either Station 17 on Cerritos Avenue or Station 13 in La Palma. “These are not a bunch of Keystone Kops,” Prather said. “These people are there when their pagers go off.”

The council, which became confused over many of the statistics and conflicting testimony, early Tuesday morning decided to form a citizens’ committee to study Station 12.

The disputed station is on Walker Street in the northern portion of the city. It is one of the last all-volunteer stations in the county.

According to county estimates, it would cost nearly $1 million to bring in a paid staff. In addition, the 60-year-old station, which was recently determined to be seismically unsafe, would have to be overhauled at even greater costs.

Although most of the public hearing was taken up by Campbell and county officials, some residents did stay to speak.

Resident Dennis Marinello, a professional firefighter and former Station 12 volunteer who lives in the coverage area of Station 12, told the council that sending out a volunteer lacking adequate training was like playing Russian roulette. “It is a crapshoot. I have been there.”