The latest updates on the campaign to protect santee

An elderly woman and six of her cats were rescued by firefighters after flames erupted in her Santee mobile home Wednesday afternoon. The fire was first reported shortly after noon by someone who saw heavy fire at a mobile home park, according to a spokesperson for the Santee Fire Department.

NBC San Diego 7 News attended and covered our Protect Santee calendar release on their 11 am broadcast. They were able to interview our firefighters and inform the San Diego viewers of the issue at hand, an overpopulated Santee and an underfunded fire department.

A group of residents is seeking support for a ballot initiative to raise about $5.6 million annually for the Santee Fire Department through a half-cent sales tax. Protect Santee organizers have started collecting signatures to get the measure on the November ballot, but will need at least 4,000 residents to sign on with their support to do so.

"The Protect Santee initiative has galvanized the community, underscoring a collective acknowledgment of the fire department's plight and the broader implications for public safety..."

"The Santee Fire Department, which hasn't had an upgrade since the '70s, is fighting to keep up with one of San Diego's fastest-growing communities..."

"Over the next 20 years, the Santee Fire Department will be tasked with responding to up to 30,000 additional incidents per year and to protect a population that could increase by as much as 50 percent. Yet, there are no additional resources allocated to the fire department, which is already severely under-funded..."