It appears the last volunteer fire department in San Diego County will cease to exist.
Voters who have been served by the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District for the last 35 years have opted to abandon the independent agency staffed by local residents and to join the regional Fire Authority instead.
Although official results of a special month-long election won’t be known for another week or two, with perhaps 100 mail ballots still to be counted, voters in Julian supported the county takeover by a 55.56 percent margin — 719 yes votes to 575 no votes.
It was hoped that the vote, which ended Tuesday, would silence an acrimonious debate that has been raging for years in the rural community, a debate that has weighed heavy on the hearts of the residents of the popular tourist destination that sits in the northeastern part of the county.