Maricopa County has decided to provide temporary assistance to county islands without fire protection.
For 180 days the county pledges to cooperate with potential fire protection providers to give fire coverage to unincorporated areas, according to a resolution passed June 6 by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
In effect, Maricopa is assuring county island residents fire protection until they can get it themselves, according to Diane Sikokis, director of the Maricopa County Government Relations unit.
The move followed the June 4 decision by Governor Napolitano to allow a contentious proposal that paves the way for thousands of East Valley residents to get fire protection service to become law without her signature.
The controversy, involving the town of Gilbert, its unincorporated areas and Maricopa County, regarding fire coverage for those who have none is expected to linger much longer.
While the measure sets procedures for non-contiguous county islands to form a fire district –an initial step to getting fire coverage — the bill, H2780, has lost its emergency provision, meaning it will take affect 90 days after the session ends. However, forming a fire district and then entering into a contract with a town, city or private provider for fire protection all takes time.
Maricopa County anticipated this, Sikokis said.
Emergency summit scheduled
The board scheduled an emergency fire summit on June 18 to identify providers in the East Valley who are willing to immediately provide the service, according to a press statement released yesterday.
Sikokis said the county will be sending out a letter to all possible providers in the East Valley, such as towns and cities, fire districts, the Gila River Indian Community, and Rural Metro, inviting them to the summit, where an interim plan and a reimbursement system will be discussed.
“Although state statute does not allow counties to provide these services directly, our board felt it was critical that we intervene to support public safety until the time provisions of this can go into effect,” Chairman Fulton Brock said in the statement.
The county will “facilitate the payment of reimbursement and indemnification of appropriate costs to county island first and secondary responder fire departments,” the resolution said.
“At such a time as it is appropriate, the county will enter into a reimbursement agreement with such a fire district, under which the county will recoup any financial commitments and organizational charges incurred by the county pursuant to this plan,” it said.
The urgency of the situation had not been lost on Napolitano, who admitted that the solution that H2780 presented was not the best but that it was better than nothing.
“The bill is not the best solution to the county fire island problem in Maricopa County, but it is an improvement over the status quo,” she said in her message. “Faced with the prospect of an indefinite period in which county island residents would risk having no fire protection whatsoever, I have concluded that on balance, it is better to allow this bill to become law.”