The Santa Rosa Volunteer Fire Department and city are at odds over who owns the fire department property leaving both groups in a lawsuit and the fire station closed.
The dispute initially started over who owns that land and accusations that the fire department leadership is “not to par” by the city, according to a report by KRGV 5 News.
Firefighters contend the land the station sits on was transferred to them in 1983, not to the city. City staff disagree and notified the current volunteers they intend to start a new organization.
“We took action to try to get control of the equipment so that we can have our new group of volunteers take over, and it seems that they want to interfere with our process,” Santa Rosa City Manager Jared Hockema said of the former volunteers. “In the end, we're going to control of this equipment and we're going to continue this transition,” he told KRGV 5 News.
Current firefighters have been locked out as the city continues to move forward to replace them with a new volunteer fire department.
Other agencies in the county are providing services in the interim until the new services are up and running.
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