Silicon Valley officials want to extinguish their feud with state firefighters over regional fire protection territory. But their vote to expand Santa Clara County Fire Department coverage threatens to fan the flames.
The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), a land use board comprised of elected officials from across the county, voted 6-1 Wednesday to remove Cal Fire from covering a 288-mile expanse of unincorporated South County neighborhoods, farms and wildland vegetation. Morgan Hill Mayor Mark Turner voted no. The decision affirms the county Board of Supervisors’ vote in January to bring coverage of the area under county firefighters, citing years of financial struggle and fragmented emergency response under the statewide fire service’s $8 million annual contract.
It will cost the county $4.5 million more to provide the same level of service to South County. But county leaders argue the move makes sense because the special district that oversees county firefighters is more financially healthy than the one overseeing the state firefighter unit in South County. Cal Fire still has an agreement to operate a station in Morgan Hill — a city which, along with Gilroy, has its own fire department with three stations each.
But the takeover has pitted leaders of the county and state firefighter agencies against each other, leading to a scene where both sides sat at opposing ends of the meeting chambers for the Wednesday vote.
“It’s very disappointing. It’s not going to be fiscally solvent, it’s going to cost two to three times more money,” Brandon Barrett, Cal Fire station captain and union leader, told San José Spotlight after the vote. “They don’t want Cal Fire in the conversation. They just want to push it through.”
In the lead-up to Wednesday’s decision, Cal Fire union leaders publicly threatened to refuse sharing resources such as equipment, staff and facilities to support a transition that could require the county to build a new fire station.
“You’re putting these two fire departments at each others’ throats,” resident Allan Epstein said during public comment.
County Fire Chief Suwanna Kerdkaew expressed sympathy for the Cal Fire employees who will be uprooted. The state firefighting unit’s leaders will relocate firefighters ahead of the county’s takeover, which is expected to happen around July 1.
“This is definitely challenging for many reasons,” Kerdkaew said at the meeting. “I recognize the many firefighters working out of the current stations and how they call it home and how it’s hard for them.”
Friction among officials
The friction extended to government officials who supported and opposed the idea. Morgan Hill City Manager Christina Turner lambasted county leaders for a lack of outreach.
“Decisions of this magnitude that directly affect emergency response, community safety and interagency cooperation must be made with full transparency and meaningful stakeholder engagement,” Turner said at the meeting. “Unfortunately the city of Morgan Hill was not informed before this proposal was introduced despite regular meetings with the county.”
County Executive James Williams insisted he contacted Turner before the January decision and, at the argument’s tensest point, offered to show his phone records to the LAFCO board. Turner responded that there’s a difference between calling months in advance of the county’s proposal to give enough time for collaboration, and calling on the eve of the county’s decision to end the Cal Fire contract.
Williams, on the other hand, slammed Cal Fire for fear mongering with claims of increased property taxes and unfunded pension liability.
“One of the things that’s been extraordinarily challenging in the public discourse of this item is the continued provision of very serious misinformation,” Williams said at the meeting.
He also criticized Cal Fire for seemingly retaliating against the county by dragging its feet on agreeing to keep a fire season station along Pacheco Pass open year-round to support the county’s future fire protection efforts. Cal Fire Santa Clara Unit Chief Jake Hess during the meeting said that contract was inextricably linked to the agreement the county is terminating with Cal Fire.
Takeover pits firefighters against each other
LAFCO board members shared concerns about how the takeover pitted firefighters against each other. But Barrett of Cal Fire said he doesn’t see it that way.
“It’s not (county firefighters) doing this. It’s people much higher than us,” he told San José Spotlight. “The fire engines coming down the road — we’ll still get along.”
LAFCO Board Chair Sylvia Arenas, a county supervisor who voted in favor of the idea in January, said the decision is about making sure South County firefighters have the resources and money they need to stay afloat.
“This has never been about the performance of Cal Fire. This has been about providing fire service in a sustainable way,” she said at the meeting.
County leaders have said they plan on maintaining the same number of firefighters in the area. For years under the previous model, a special district known as the South County Fire Protection District relied on local property tax revenue to pay for Cal Fire services. The problem: South County property tax revenue consistently underperforms because agricultural land is taxed on income generated by the land, rather than on potential market value.
County officials have also said the change allows for a consolidated 911 center, as well as a Level 1 hazmat team that can respond to hazardous incidents.
“This is way of bringing in additional much needed services into that part of the county,” Williams said at the meeting.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.
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