MORGAN HILL
– The Morgan Hill City Council said that it was happy enough
with local fire protection to want to extend the contract for at
least two more years. Taking a suggestion from the 2002 Fire and
Emergency Services Master Plan, the council also is interested in
pursuing a single-agency format for the e
ntire South Valley.
MORGAN HILL – The Morgan Hill City Council said that it was happy enough with local fire protection to want to extend the contract for at least two more years. Taking a suggestion from the 2002 Fire and Emergency Services Master Plan, the council also is interested in pursuing a single-agency format for the entire South Valley.
“Our experience with county (fire) is good enough, if not even better than that, to warrant extending the contract,” City Manager Ed Tewes said.
Council agreed and voted 5-0 Wednesday to pursue a contract extension in which staffing and cost will be the primary negotiating points. Council also asked staff to begin contacting other agencies about uniting into a single firefighting agency.
The city has had a contract with Santa Clara County Fire Department since 1995, after it closed the Morgan Hill Fire Department during a severe financial crisis. SCCFD staffs the El Toro and Dunne/Hill fire stations and performs fire protection and safety inspections for the city.
When necessary, the department can call on the South Santa Clara County Fire District, based at and staffed by the California Department of Forestry station on Monterey Highway just north of Watsonville Road. The agencies have a mutual-aid agreement and frequently fight fires or attend to medical emergencies together. Every engine company provides advanced life support and paramedics since they can often reach an emergency before the local ambulance.
SCCFD Chief Ben Lopes agreed that relations between his agency and the city have been friendly and productive but urged increased staffing to increase protection for the area and safety for his men. Additional staffing was a critical emphasis of the master plan. Lopes said local companies respond to calls with eight or nine firefighters at a first alarm, where other companies in the county respond with 14 to 15.
Lopes also said staffing at the South County station should be increased for the same reasons.
The one-agency idea, uniting SCCFD, South County Fire and possibly Gilroy Fire Department under one umbrella, has been bandied about for several years. Morgan Hill and Lopes are for it.
“We are 100 percent behind that,” Lopes said. “This area could be better served by a single agency.”
Gilroy Fire Chief Jeff Clet said he doesn’t know details about the proposal but would be open to a more regional firefighting approach.
“I want to do whatever’s best for Gilroy,” Clet said Monday. “If there’s ways we can work with our partners … and improve our overall capability in South County, then I would support that absolutely. … But I don’t have a solution.”
Staff Writer Peter Crowley contributed to this report.
