Santa Rosa firefighters warn that people's lives will be at risk if the city follows through on its budget-cutting proposals. The council already agreed to close one station beginning July 1, perhaps using a system of rolling brown-outs. A proposal headed to the council on Tuesday would extend the closure to a second station.

The proposals - and the subsequent warnings - left me wondering what's happened to Santa Rosa fire response times over the past several years. A Sonoma County grand jury report published in 2004 said response times were too slow and recommended that the department add at least two stations and relocate several others. A new station opened in the southwest area in 2006. A second new station is expected to open on Lewis Road in Santa Rosa in April or May.

So what's happened to response times? Well, they're getting slower.

And the volume of calls, as you probably know intuitively, is increasing.

The department posts some response-time data on its Web site. I asked Fire Chief Bruce Varner for some additional data. Here's a snapshot:

2008

Incidents: 19,137  (up 1.9 percent from 2007)

Average code 3 response time: 5 min (1 second slower than 2006)

2007

Incidents: 18,758 (up 1 percent from 2006)

Average code 3 response time: 4 minutes, 59 seconds (12 seconds slower than 2006)

2006

Incidents: 18,557 (up 5.2 percent)

Average code 3 response times: 4 minutes, 47 seconds (6 seconds faster than 2005)

2005

Incidents: 17,582

Average code 3 response time: 4 minutes, 53 seconds

The grand jury looked at data for 2002 and found that the Fire Department arrived within six minutes 86 percent of the time. The goal is to reach 100 percent of emergency calls in six minutes. The average response, according to Varner, was 4 minutes, 38 seconds for 16,301 calls.However, the department and the rest of Sonoma County firefighting agencies have since adopted a computerized dispatch system that provides more accurate data. Still, according to department figures, it is reaching emergencies within 6 minutes about 77 percent of the time, down considerably from 2002.

Looking at the changes between 2005 and 2006, you could wonder if there is a direct correlation between call volume and response time. But is anyone ready to take the risk that closing stations wouldn't result in yet slower responses?

If not, are people ready to foot the bill to maintain service at the current level?

Police and fire account for about two-thirds of the city's $132 million general fund. If you had to balance the budget - it's $23 million out of whack -- do you keep them whole at the expense of all other departments? Ask cops and firefighters for concessions on pay and benefits to keep the fire stations open? Raise taxes?

Let me know what you would do.

-- Jim Sweeney