By next spring Guerneville’s 100-year-old firefighting agency, known in recent years as the Russian River Fire Protection District, should have a new identity as the west county arm of the Sonoma County Fire District.
Russian River and Sonoma County fire boards unanimously approved the move, and officials expect to fold the river fire district into the larger agency early in 2020, following final approval from a monthslong government review of the plan.
Officials say the move will benefit each side — including Russian River-area residents — who can expect to see more firefighter-paramedics for a limited increase to their annual fire tax. And pulling Russian River and its ambulance service into the central Sonoma County agency will give Chief Mark Heine the step he needs to begin hiring firefighter-paramedics for other areas of the district.
Russian River Fire has struggled in recent years with leadership turnover, a seismically unsafe firehouse and a costly ambulance service stretched thin over a large coverage area and by hospital trips outside the fire district. The district’s $2.5 million budget is in the black but projections show that won’t last without deep cuts or a sharp increase to the annual property tax for fire services.
This merger will ease several of those issues, said Jason Weaver, president of the Russian River Fire board of directors.
“I feel some relief. We’ve got what I think is a really good answer,” Weaver said. “We’re going to increase staffing, specifically paramedic staffing, in the Guerneville station without a significant tax increase.”
The consolidation is the latest shift in the county’s firefighting network, including some three dozen departments, most of which are looking to neighbors to join forces or share services. It also meets a Board of Supervisors’ mandate that additional funding will go to those seeking to consolidate.
And Sonoma County Fire’s expansion west isn’t expected to stop in Guerneville.
A recent government study of the region’s fire agencies showed that only a handful are weathering the near-constant pressure of rising firefighting costs. Most of the west county’s 15 fire agencies are in worse shape, struggling to staff an engine during the day because of a dwindling volunteer force, insufficient budgets, aging stations and equipment.
Heine said he’s talking with other west county fire officials. “We are still in deep conversation with Forestville about the potential of consolidating with them and the Cazadero (fire) board invited us to come out and meet with them about consolidating opportunities,” he said.
Talks also are underway with Bodega Bay Fire, including a possibility of increasing ambulance service, Heine said. Bodega Bay is the only other fire district in the west county to run an ambulance service, but it, too, is stretched thin, providing extensive service well outside its home district.
Forestville Fire Chief Dave Franceschi and Bodega Bay Fire Chief Sean Grinnell said their agencies are exploring options with Sonoma County Fire.
Heine plans to pitch the idea to several other west county fire chiefs in upcoming weeks.
The latest consolidation started in June when Russian River Fire hired Heine as chief, replacing three fire captains who’d filled in on the top job, pending a more strategic plan by district officials. In August, both boards voted to seek permission to annex Russian River into Sonoma County Fire, launching a review of the idea by the Local Agency Formation Commission, which oversees local government service boundaries.
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