JEFFREY HERMAN, San Clemente Native
Thank you for your tribute to Jim. But I would like to make one correction: Jim served as a City of San Clemente firefighter from 1970 to 1992; at that point, SCFD was absorbed into OCFA. So most of his career was as a city fireman, not county.
This might be a good story for the SC Times to publish—the history of San Clemente’s own police and fire departments, and the city’s financial woes that lead up to those departments being disbanded and taken over by the county.
Historically, that decision was the exact opposite of what usually happens: Most towns begin life by contracting for county services, then at some point become financially independent enough to form their own municipal departments. Maybe, someday, the city will reestablish its own police and fire departments.
I was on SCFD with Jim during the early ’70s.
