Still No County Fire Department Five Years After Cedar Blaze



By E.A. Barrera

"Given the existing high-risk conditions that are projected to continue into the future, destructive firestorms will certainly occur again. Yet, even armed with this knowledge and after the Cedar Fire wake-up call, the San Diego region is woefully unprepared."

-- San Diego County Grand Jury, May 29, 2008

October will mark the first anniversary of the Witch Creek Fires and fifth anniversary of the deadlier Cedar Fire.  Four years have passed since voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition "C" which called for a Countywide Fire Department.  Yet  the County of San Diego is still at the nascent stage of organizing collective fire departments of the region into one unified command structure.