BUENA PARK : Council to Consider Fire Services Study

The City Council today will decide whether to continue a study of contracting municipal fire services with the Orange County Fire Department.

Buena Park Fire Chief Herb Jewell has recommended that the council take that step since a preliminary review found that the city could save between $100,000 and $1 million in operation costs in the first year.

The city has budgeted $5.1 million--about 14% of the city’s budget--for fire services in 1993-94. The department has 61 employees and three fire stations.

Jewell said the remaining study, which could take about three months to complete, would address personnel-related issues and the future use of fire stations, trucks and other equipment. No decisions have been made about how many city firefighters would be retained under such an agreement with the county.

The chief said the study would also determine the county’s start-up costs.

Veterans of the 37-year-old department said they have concerns about job security, transfer of seniority and their retirement, medical, sick leave and vacation benefits.

Firefighters have also expressed concern about whether such a move would be in their best interest considering county government’s flagging financial condition.

Veterans like Capt. Glenn Davis, who has 16 years with the municipal department and has amassed six months of sick leave, said the possibility for change has caused some apprehension.

“The unknown is there,” he said. “It might be better, it might be worse.”

Should a contract result from the study and city firefighters are retained, city fire engineer John Ortiz worried that “we conceivably could be the first to go” if the economy continues its slump.

Meanwhile, department rookies and some other firefighters with less tenure see the county as an opportunity for a more challenging work environment and for career development.

“For my situation, it’s going to be a land of opportunities,” firefighter Ron Pluma said. “You can work different places, meet new people and work with different people. It seems like it’s going to open the doors for your career.”

Jerry Caldwell, a city firefighter for 23 years, said there likely would be mixed feelings if the county assumed control of fire operations.

“On an emotional side, it would just seem strange that the organization so many of us have worked for for so long would cease to exist. . . . There (would be) no Buena Park Fire Department anymore.”

The council meeting begins at 5 p.m. in the council chamber, 6650 Beach Blvd.