San Diego, CA's Reserve Fire Rig Fleet Impacted By Managed Competition

San Diego's Fire-Rescue Department is on edge as the change of seasons brings the prospect of hot, windy, fire-prone Santa Ana conditions through the fall months. At the same time, the city's reserve fleet of engines is at a dangerously low level. It’s a situation tied to unintended consequences stemming from the city's voter-approved "managed competition" process.

"We don't have enough mechanics to maintain these vehicles," said Frank De Clercq, President of San Diego Firefighters Local 145, during a walking tour of Fire-Rescue’s fleet servicing facility in Kearny Mesa. "Some of them -- in fact, newer ones that are here -- they've actually fallen out of warranty," De Clercq noted, pointing out rows of parked rigs awaiting repairs and other automotive work. "In which case the city ends up having to pay the repair these."

Of the department’s 32 ready-reserve engines that backfill Fire-Rescue's 60 day-to-day front-liners, only seven were available for duty. The rest haven't been worked on, due to short-staffing in the city's force of vehicle mechanics. Five of 17 positions assigned to Fire-Rescue are vacant.

The same scenario is playing out among the city's other vehicle fleets, because employees vastly underbid private outfits in "managed competition" two years ago, with an approach now on track to reduce Fleet Maintenance Services staffing by 37 percent since then. Overtime has been ordered in Fire-Rescue to bring down the backlog of 25 unserviced reserve rigs, to prepare for potential catastrophes on the order of the county’s deadly 2003 and 2007 firestorms.

"If we have these fires," De Clercq said, "fires in the East County have an effect on the county fire departments. They are basically a bare-bones volunteer group. They depend on us as well. If we don't have the vehicles, we can't even help them out, let alone ourselves."

For the folks at City Hall, there seems to be a lesson learned the hard way. "My understanding from the fire chief, in terms of his comfort level, all 25 aren't necessarily needed to be ready today," Interim Mayor Todd Gloria reassured news media outlets. "There's a certain level, and we're working our way to that. And we're going to continue to be aggressive, because obviously public safety is our first priority." Gloria said the situation calls for a careful re-evaluation of future "managed competitions" for other municipal functions and services.

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