Mayor Jerry Sanders announced in a May 10 press conference that San Diego’s fire pits will survive another fiscal year, thanks to last-minute donations from the San Diego Foundation, the La Jolla Community Foundation and the infrastructure funds of City Councilmembers Sherri Lightner and Kevin Faulconer. The outlook was bleak as of 1 p.m. on May 7, the deadline for Sanders’ 2011 budget submission to the City Council, when only $2,800 of the required $120,000 to keep 186 fire pits in place citywide had been raised. “We will start making preparations for removal,” said Rachel Laing, the mayor’s press spokeswoman, on that day. “We are going to store the fire pits and hope that during better budget times we’ll be able to restore the service.” In a triumphant address Monday, Sanders said he was pleased to announce the donors’ commitment to the fire pits and to San Diego’s families. “Today, we see what happens when civic-minded folks step forward for the sake of the public good,” he said. Bob Kelly, president and CEO of The San Diego Foundation, said the cause aligns with the foundation’s mission to make San Diego a better place in which to live, work and play. “The preservation of the fire pits ensures that the celebration of families and friends around a campfire will continue. This is about our quality of life and why we live here,” he said. District 1 Councilwoman Lightner said that she hopes all San Diego residents and visitors will take advantage of the fire pits, and she urged them to donate now so that the pits do not face the same threat next year. “It costs $650 to maintain one fire pit per year,” she said. “I hope everyone will step up and sponsor a pit today so we can continue to offer this resource.” Faulconer echoed Lightner’s words on the importance of accruing donations for next year, and said he was proud of the team effort San Diego displayed in saving the fire pits for another year. “We’re not talking about a lot of money, but it’s the small things that make San Diego special,” he said. “Our fire pits are a part of that fabric.” In an effort to trim the city’s budget, Sanders eliminated the funding to maintain the La Jolla Shores, Mission Bay and Ocean Beach fire pits in 2008. A private, anonymous donor funded the project for 18 months following that decision, and those funds expire June 30 of this year. The money collected for this year’s maintenance will pay for the fire pits from July 1 this year to June 30, 2011. Funding for the $120,500 needed per year to fund the city’s fire pits comes in the form of $90,000 from The San Diego Foundation’s Mission Bay Park Endowment Fund, $4,700 from The La Jolla Community Foundation, $16,452 from Faulconer’s District 2, and $6,452 from Lightner’s District 1. An additional $2,896 will be used from individual donors who gave to the Save The Fire Pit Fund.