City approves fire services contract with county

The Canyon Lake City Council approved a contract for fire services with Riverside County Fire at its May 9 City Council Meeting. At its June 6 meeting, the council approved the funds to pay for the contract, which goes into effect on July 1.

The City of Canyon Lake’s current fire services contract with Riverside County for Fiscal Year 2017/2018 is for a two-person engine company, with paramedic service, out of Fire Station 60. The cost for this contract is $1,436,000. This current contract also required the city to notify the county if the city wanted to extend the current contract. The city notified the county in December of 2017 of their desire to extend a new one-year contract.

The contract was put before the city council as an individual business item at the May 9 City Council Meeting. The new fire service contract with Riverside County for Fiscal Year 2018/2019 goes into effect July 1, 2018, at a cost of $2,204,550. The new contact includes moving from a two-person engine company to a three-person engine company.  Paramedic services will still be provided in this contract.

“The city council is working diligently on a solution to our spiraling costs of fire services,” said Canyon Lake Mayor Vicki Warren. “Throughout California and indeed our very own Riverside County, the struggle to maintain an appropriate level of services is harder and harder as the costs continue to rise. This one-year extension of the Cal Fire contract was and is necessary to maintain vital fire services while we continue to explore every possible solution for our future needs. The necessity of these services was never more evident than last week with the Wrangler fire and we will continue to fight hard for the safety of our citizens.”

The fire station reopened on July 3, two years after it closed its doors after a dispute with county fire officials over the cost of services. The city held a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the station on July 15, 2017.