A gambling referendum? Letting the public vote on firehouse roulette.
In Sacramento, CA, where they fire department has been dealing with rotating firehouse closures, or “brownouts”, the union has a better idea. They are testing the waters to see what kind of public support there would be to put the issue on the ballot. Some are calling it the Neighborhood Firehouse Protection Act.
Eighty firefighters handed out fliers at polling places on Tuesday. The idea is to let the public vote to ban city officials from balancing the budget by reducing the number of fire trucks available to respond to emergencies.
According to the Sacramento Bee, a similar measure was passed in San Francisco in 2005.
A fire occurred this morning in an area where the closest engine company was closed for the day. It took the first engine seven minutes to arrive. The fire was confined to the laundry room.
