La Habra Heights weighs taxes, county contracts and grants to sustain volunteer fire department

La Habra Heights held a special Saturday workshop on Oct. 4 to examine the long-term sustainability of its volunteer-staffed fire department, focusing on paramedic coverage, equipment replacement and shrinking grant support.

The city’s fire chief, identified in the record as Chief Jorgensen, told residents that while the department remains professional and effective, rising post‑COVID costs and the loss of key grants make existing funding unsustainable. The chief said grant programs that once supplied turnouts, PPE and apparatus grants have been reduced or disappeared and that a recent off‑the‑shelf Pierce Type 1 engine purchased under grant pricing rose from about $685,000 at order to $880,000 on delivery; he said similar rigs can be $1.2 million today with lead times of several years.

Why it matters: The department provides both firefighting and advanced-life-support (ALS) paramedic services to a mostly rural, low-turnover community where mutual‑aid response can add many critical minutes. Residents and staff said paramedic coverage is the issue they most want prioritized.

Chief Jorgensen and staff described three key budget drivers: (1) staffing and paramedic pay, (2) vehicle and PPE replacement with rapidly rising prices and mandated service‑life rules, and (3) the disappearance…