The Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) recently released a draft report for the Countywide Fire Service Review, and will host a series of upcoming public meetings to solicit input, answer questions and provide information.
“The review includes an examination of special districts providing fire services within the county,” reads the preface to the draft report, which was published in June. “Among the four special districts, one directly provides fire and emergency services, while two have contracted with another fire district for service delivery. Lastly, one special district has a service contract with CAL FIRE.
“In total, Santa Clara County is served by nine agencies responsible for providing fire and emergency services to its residents and businesses,” the preface continues.
The draft also notes that none of the fire agencies throughout Santa Clara County are currently meeting their adopted response time standards or goals. Two cities—Morgan Hill and Milpitas—have not adopted their own local response time standards, and thus the LAFCO review used a federal standard from the National Fire Protection Association to evaluate their response efficiency.
“Morgan Hill, Milpitas and (Santa Clara Fire Department) have not adopted a response time standard. Organizations should adopt a performance goal and present those to the elected officials for adoption,” reads one of the recommendations from the draft review. “The organizations should consider a baseline standard that defines the expectation of service for the community.”
Upcoming public meetings on the draft Countywide Services Review are scheduled for the following times and places. Each meeting will also take place on Zoom. For links and more information on how to participate in the online meetings, visit https://santaclaralafco.org/.
– Technical Advisory Committee Meeting: 10am July 12, at the board of supervisors chambers, 70 West Hedding Street, San Jose.
– Community Meeting #1 (South County): 5:30pm July 12, at Morgan Hill City Council Chambers, 17575 Peak Ave., Morgan Hill.
– Community Meeting #2 (North County): 5:30pm July 13, at Palo Alto City Hall Community Meeting Room, 250 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto.
– LAFCO Public Hearing: 1:15pm or soon thereafter Aug. 2, at the board of supervisors chambers, 70 West Hedding Street, San Jose.
At each meeting, LAFCO’s consultant will first present the Draft Report and its key findings and recommendations and will then accept any comments from attendees.
Written comments are also accepted, until 5pm Aug. 2. Send written comments by email to [email protected].
Following the Aug.2 public hearing, LAFCO’s consultant will compile all written comments received, prepare a response to the comments in a table, and revise the draft report as necessary, says a press release from LAFCO. It is anticipated that the revised draft report and the table of comments, with consultant’s responses, will be published on the LAFCO website in late August.
Finally, LAFCO will hold a second public hearing on Oct. 4 to consider and adopt the final report.
To read the draft Countywide Fire Service Review online, visit https://tinyurl.com/32dbs3wa.
