The city of San Diego projects a $72 million budget deficit for the 2012 fiscal year, beginning in July. City departments were asked to submit proposed budget reductions by close of business Oct. 4 — and the ramifications could be dramatic. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD), which also encompasses the area’s lifeguards, was asked to cut $7.2 million. “We will have to — for the first time — consider browning out single-unit fire stations,” said SDFD Chief Javier Mainar. FIRE OPTIONS Brownouts occur when station crews are temporarily reassigned to another area in the city, making that station unavailable to respond to emergency needs. The brownout rotation is already employed at Fire Station 21 on Grand Avenue, which has an engine, a truck and an ambulance and is considered a multi-engine station. However, two nearby stations that are not currently affected by brownouts — Station 22 on Catalina Boulevard and Station 15 on Voltaire Street — are single-engine fire stations that could now be included in the brownout rotation, Mainar said. Because there is only one engine each at Station 22 and Station 15, taking them out of the mix and rotating the crews elsewhere would essentially result in “blackouts” — a more drastic measure that the fire department has so far escaped. This cut — which could extend to single-engine stations — would increase the number of daily browned-out stations from 8 to 13. Another major cut would be the elimination of the staffing for one of the two helicopter crews, who are in service for six months of the year. The department would retain both helicopters, but one pilot would be laid off, Mainar said. The fire department uses the helicopters for medical aids and transportation, firefighting, cliff rescues, swift-river rescues and ocean searching. Certain areas in and around Pacific Beach and Mission Bay are considered by the city to be “very high fire-hazard severity zones,” according to SDFD grid maps. These areas include areas along Mission Bay: SeaWorld, Perez Cove and Fiesta Island. Mainar said Mount Soledad is also considered to be in the very high fire-hazard severity zone. These are key areas to which the helicopters could be called should a brush fire occur. LIFEGUARDS North Pacific Beach could potentially lose all of its more-experienced Lifeguard Level-II coverage. However, it will have more less-experienced Lifeguard Level-I lifeguards on duty during the peak summer season. The night crew consists of a team of four lifeguards who respond to swift-river rescues, offshore search and rescue work requiring scuba certification, cliff rescues and the more common ocean rescues and medical aids, boats sinking, disabled, on fire — or boaters calling for medical aid for those aboard, at all hours of the night. The four lifeguards cover the coast from Torrey Pines to the tip of Point Loma and three miles out to sea. This encompasses Mission Bay as well. The night crew could potentially be reduced to two lifeguards, who would be stationed at the Mission Bay Headquarters location, eliminating the staffing of two guards in La Jolla overnight. “We now reduce our capability to respond by half,” Mainar said of the nighttime hours guard coverage. Ocean Beach, South Mission Beach, Mission Beach, La Jolla Rocks and La Jolla Shores could lose a Lifeguard Level-I tower relief, which means fewer breaks for guards. However, Mainar said fewer breaks does not mean less relaxation, but rather less time to train. Lifeguards typically train when they are on break from tower duty. Lifeguard coverage at Ventura Cove, Sail Bay, Crown Point, De Anza Cove, and Tecolote Shores will be reduced or eliminated mid-June through Labor Day, which is when these areas are typically staffed. TOUGH CHOICES The next step, Mainar said, is for the cuts to go before the mayor and the full City Council. “The council is not interested in making [those] cuts,” said District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer. “I will not support those cuts.” “The choice is not between cuts or taxes,” he said. The choice is between reform or taxes.” Ed Harris heads the Lifeguard Teamsters Union. “Over the last couple of rounds of budget cuts, we have slowly picked away at our relief system,” he said. The identified budget-cut options were not to include items that generate revenue — but instead, only contain items that can be cut. “There’s nowhere else to cut,” Harris said. He suggests many revenue-generating ideas in the forms of selling advertisements on items like rescue boards and lifeguard towers. “We all live here. We all work here. We don’t want something that’s not tactful,” Harris said. Last year’s budget reductions impacted how lifeguards train, said Lt. Andy Lerum, spokesman for the city’s Lifeguard Services. As a result, the training shifted from hands-on scenarios to online learning. The benefits are that information is standardized and tracking of progress can be done more efficiently. Lerum said the negative is the time a guard spends on the computer, which is time taken away from patrol. Advocates of Prop D on the Nov. 2 ballot — the half-cent sales-tax proposal — have said the measure will shore up the public safety budget and hedge against cuts. Critics have said there is no guarantee the money will be used for those purposes.