HAVASU LAKE, Calif. �” Although the fire station on the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation is not closed, some locals and officials remain concerned that emergency services will suffer because of a lack of funding.

“I’m deathly afraid of, well, that word: death. I’m worried we’ll have a situation where we could save a patient but lose them because we’re waiting for a response from Needles or Big River, an hour away,” firefighter Phil Peterson said.

San Bernardino County Fire Station No. 118 remains open with one engine and one ambulance, but the station is no longer staffed for budgetary reasons. The state Legislature cut supplemental funding from Tribal Gaming Impact fees this year, fees used to pay on-call firefighters to man the station 12 hours each day.

“The fire station got used to the special distribution fund,” Chemehuevi Tribal Chairman Charles Wood said. “Governor (Arnold) Schwarzenegger redistributed that money. The tribe is also not a member of the seven-member committee that determines the allocation.”

The funding was cut when state officials determined that the local fire station was serving “the general Havasu area” and not specifically the Havasu Landing Resort & Casino.

SBCFD Battalion Chief Gary Benedict said there are seven paid-on-call firefighters who live in the area who will be called to action to man the engine or ambulance in the event of an emergency service call.

But Peterson, a six-year veteran, said only three active PACs live in the Havasu Lake area.

“And only two can drive the engine or ambulance. The other is a paramedic/EMT,” he said. “They think we’re going to wait around for calls and have no life. We can’t do that.”

Nontribal residents of Havasu Lake have asked why a Possessory Use Tax couldn’t be used to pay the salaries of full-time firefighters. The tax is being assessed to residents of the manufactured home parks of Thunderhead 1 and 2 and Enterprise.

Calls to San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus and District 1 Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt were not returned.

“We’re going to try and work to somehow make sure fire and ambulance service is available,” Wood said. “We now have one tribal member that’s paid-on-call and I believe there may be a second. I know some other (tribal) members have shown interest.”

Tribal Gaming Impact fees have been used the past three fiscal years to purchase new equipment for the station. In 2004-05, almost $300,000 was used to purchase the engine, more than $180,000 was used in 2005-06 for the ambulance and holiday weekend staffing, and in 2006-07, $170,000 was used for staffing and purchase of a new fire rescue boat.

Wood said the tribe has contributed more than $11,000 to the county for fire service to the reservation and $15,000 for public health services such as pest and mosquito control.