25 Sep Fire Services that stay within budget
The Stats
The city of Blythe has had its own fire department since 1923. They provide fire services for 19,959 citizens with 6 responders on a call for an annual cost of $294,242. This comes out to $2.58 per responder, per citizen, per year.
San Bernardino County fire provides 2,170,000 citizens with 3 responders on a call for an annual cost of $323,303,800. This comes to $49.66 per responder, per citizen, per year.
We could provide 19 times the fire protection to citizens than what they get now, for the same amount of money. If we ran San Bernardino County Fire the same way that Blythe runs its fire department.
San Bernardino County Fire does not need more money, they need to visit Blythe and learn.
The City of Blythe’s Success
“The challenge for a small, rural, full service City such as the City of Blythe is the ability to provide adequate public safety services to residents at a cost that will fit within the parameters of the general fund budget.
How do you provide much needed service that involves the health and public safety with little budget dollars? You get creative in how you provide these services. Thankfully for the City of Blythe, our founding fathers created the Blythe Fire Department which has protected the City of Blythe and saved tax payers millions of dollars over the last ninety-one years. Today, the Blythe Fire Department is one of the very few volunteer fire departments left in this County.
The greatest result of the program is the ability of the City to provide residents with a highly trained Fire Department under local control. Another result is a fully functioning fire department at a cost that could probably not be matched by anyone else. The City does not believe it could provide the level of service received from these volunteers from another agency or at a cost of just under $300,000 a year.
Another result is community pride. The citizens have great respect for the Blythe Fire Department and a pride for what they provide to our City. These Firemen have day jobs and some of their employers allow them to leave during work hours to respond to fires because they know how important this Department is to the City of Blythe.”
Source article: League of California Cities – Blythe Fire Department