When Five Cities Fire Authority formed in 2010, it was an effort to cut costs for Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach and Oceano, and consolidate firefighting operations for the closely aligned cities — joining forces, so to speak, to provide better, less expensive fire service to the majority of the area.
Nine years later, the authority faces an uncertain future now that budgeting woes have city leaders debating how the department should be funded — or if it should just be disbanded.
The authority’s biggest participant, Arroyo Grande, is eying the latter. In a staff report released Friday, Arroyo Grande City Manager Jim Bergman recommend the city leave the joint fire department — which could effectively disband the entire organization — in favor of forming its own fire department and later inviting only Grover Beach to join forces again.