Task force recommends $54,315 for Rainbow VFD

The County of San Diego’s Task Force on Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services has recommended $54,315 for emergency communications equipment for the Rainbow Volunteer Fire Department.

The unanimous February 18 recommendation will be brought to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, who are expected to consider the item at a March meeting.

“It’s a good deal. We are very pleased,” said Bill Metcalf, the fire chief of the North County Fire Protection District, which will purchase the equipment on behalf of the Rainbow Volunteer Fire Department.

The county has committed $200,000 in Community Development Block Grants each year for needs of the fire service and an additional $200,000, derived from the savings of refinancing the county’s Otay prison, into a trust fund for fire agencies. Although Community Development Block Grant funds are restricted to eligible neighborhoods, the trust fund awards have no such restriction. Applications for such funding are reviewed by volunteers from the task force, who grade the applications and make recommendations for the entire task force to approve. The task force’s recommendations then go to the supervisors for approval.

“It’s a great process that’s been established, and I appreciate the teamwork,” said County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who chairs the task force.

The Rainbow equipment will be funded through Community Development Block Grant awards. “That is going to assist us to defray the cost of the transition to the regional dispatch center,” Metcalf said.

The North County Fire Protection District is in the process of converting to a regional dispatch program involving several other fire districts and city fire departments in North County. The transition includes the purchase of new radios compatible with the regional dispatch system.

“This is going to assist us greatly in making these purchases,” Metcalf said.

In 1986 the Fallbrook Fire Protection District consolidated with County Service Area 7, which had provided fire protection service to Rainbow. Rainbow maintained its volunteer fire department, which has a separate budget from the North County Fire Protection District.

The CDBG money will fully offset the cost of the radio purchases for the Rainbow Volunteer Fire Department, although the North County Fire Protection District will still need to fund the other radios.

Bruce Fried, the fire chief of the Rainbow Volunteer Fire Department, wrote the grant application. “He did an outstanding job,” Metcalf said.