Measure S: Santee firefighters push for proposed half-cent sales tax increase

SANTEE, Calif. (KGTV) — SANTEE, Calif. (KGTV) — Santee firefighters hit the streets Thursday morning to show their support for Measure S, a proposed half-cent sales tax hike that is on the November ballot.
If Measure S passes, firefighters say it would ultimately help response times around the city.
According to the Santee Fire Department, the problem is they only have two fire stations. The city hasn’t built a new one since 1960, despite Santee’s population increasing since then.
So right now, firefighters say they can only reach about half the city within the national standard response time of 4 minutes. For other parts of the city, it can take 8 minutes or longer.
With the funding through Measure S, firefighters say they want to build two new fire stations, hire more people and improve some of their existing facilities.
The improvements would bring the response time down to 4 minutes for 90% of the city.
“We need more fire stations and we need more firefighters. We’ve had two fire stations operational in this city since 1964,” said Justin Matsushita, Fire Chief for the City of Santee. “The issue really is that we haven’t grown with the city growth.”
Firefighters will stand at several intersections Thursday morning, wearing their Halloween costumes.
They’ll head out again on Election Day, urging voters to support Measure S.