La Habra Heights, CA - Reaction to a public comment on fire services made by this reporter at the November 9, 2010 City Council meeting brings in to question the competency and candor of La Habra Heights City Manager Shauna Clark, after she made an erroneous and seriously misleading statement regarding “Automatic Aid.”

An ongoing investigation into City management endangering firefighters and residents, led to a tip that the City’s Fire Department was charging nonresidents, those who reside in unincorporated areas and within the City of La Habra, a fee for services. This is a violation of a 2007 Automatic Aid agreement with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, an agency under a 10-year contract with the City of La Habra for fire and rescue service. The City Council, looking for additional sources of revenue, voted in 2007 to charge residents a fee for emergency services rendered by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Now, questions remain on how the City would continue to honor the automatic aid agreement since it prohibits either party from receiving compensation for services rendered by either agency.

Automatic Aid Agreements are used when a non-jurisdictional agency has units and personnel closer to the scene of the incident than the jurisdictional agency. Currently fewer than 100 Heights residents on the City’s far west side are covered under this agreement with Los Angeles County Fire Department. In exchange, hundreds of residents and their structures in unincorporated Los Angeles County and La Habra receive automatic aid furnished by the La Habra Heights Volunteer Fire Department.

Firefighter professionals fear that violations of the automatic aid agreement could endanger efforts to expand the agreement to cover the entire area of La Habra Heights. Most Heights residents have been without automatic aid since a City Council decision was made in 2004 to sever ties with the City of La Habra for fire, paramedic and ambulance service.

It was after the conclusion of the public comment at the end of the Council meeting that City Manager Shauna Clark, in an effort to discredit this reporter, asked the City Council for direction in dealing with false statements regarding fire safety issues. “Should I attempt to correct the record or should I just assume that members of the public know that their statements are false…” Mayor Layne Baroldi stated, “…I agree that if the information is false that it should be corrected so that the perception is not left to be reality in the mind of people within the City”.

Clark then added, “…the only reason I bring it up is cause it relates to public safety issue and I don’t want people believing that we do not get automatic aid from LA County. Every resident in the City gets automatic aid and nothing has changed.”

But apparently Ms. Clark’s statement is ignorant and false. In a telephone interview with Los Angeles County Fire Department Public Information office Inspector Fredrick Stowers, he stated that the July 17, 2007 Automatic Aid agreement, September 1, 2007 Memorandum of Understanding "MOU" and "Auto-Aid" map with La Habra Heights “... had not changed to include all residents within the City.”

Inspector Stowers went on to confirm our reports that the auto aid agreement has been under review for a couple months by the Area Assistant Chiefs and the City Manager, but has not yet reached the departments planning division.

Previous efforts to expand the agreement have reportedly been met with protests from undisclosed La Habra officials fearing an expansion of the auto aid agreement will burden taxpayers in La Habra and add to increase response times. Equipment, personnel and stations under the La Habra contract are not included in the auto aid agreement. Only LA County Engine 59 responds from the Whittier area into the western edge of La Habra Heights under Automatic Aid per the 2007 MOU. This does not prevent La Habra contract stations from responding into La Habra Heights under Mutual Aid if available. Similarly La Habra Heights responds into La Habra when requested.

In a 2007, the Whittier Daily News published a “Letter to the Editor” written by Los Angeles County Fire Department Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman. In the letter regarding the Automatic Aid issue in La Habra Heights the Chief conveyed that “…these agreements are designed to enhance existing local emergency delivery systems not replace them.”

Under Ms. Clark’s tenure the city has gutted the department eliminating all fulltime fire personnel, converting the position of Fire Chief from full time to part time and reducing staffing to one engine despite having six.

Supporting Documents:

Link to Auto Aid Agreement: 2007 Automatic Aid Agreement with Los Angles County Fire Department
Link to MOU Agreement : 2007 Memorandum of Understanding
Link to Auto Aid Map go to: www.LHHFIREWATCH.com
Link to LHH Agenda Report: 2009 EMS Response Billing Policy
Link to LHH Minutes: January 15, 2009 Item 12 - EMS Response Billing Policy

EOM