Deal Gives Campus Full-Time Fire Service

Cal State Channel Islands has agreed to pay the Ventura County Fire Protection District $1.1 million to provide around-the-clock fire services at the Camarillo campus, officials said Friday.

The new agreement extends an existing contract between the county and university that was signed last year.

The earlier contract provided for part-time on-site fire services at the South Lewis Road campus.

According to Fire Chief Bob Roper, the new contract would provide for 24-hour service beginning Aug. 14. It would run through June 30, 2000.

“Both parties have been pleased with the contractual arrangements and have now agreed to enter into an ongoing agreement,” Roper said.

The deal must be voted on by the Board of Supervisors, which convenes Tuesday for its regular meeting. County staff members have recommended that the board approve the contract.

Since Nov. 1, county firefighters have staffed a campus fire station 10 hours a day, seven days a week. That arrangement will continue through Aug. 13.

A county fire crew stationed about seven minutes away in Camarillo now responds to emergencies when firefighters are not working on campus.

County guidelines recommend a response time of no more than five minutes.

Full-time fire services will be needed, university officials said, because 2,000 Cal State Northridge students will begin attending classes in the fall at Cal State Channel Islands.

The campus will become a full-fledged four-year university in August 2002.

Currently, fewer than 200 people are on campus daily, including university personnel, county fire maintenance crews, businesspeople who lease office space and some artists who paint in an empty former library building.

“It’s all being done to handle the increase in population at the school,” said Sandi Wells, a county fire spokeswoman.