Study include comparisons between district and county service

By Kara Chalmers

A recent study of the two fire departments that serve the city of Saratoga--the Saratoga Fire District and the Santa Clara County Fire Department--that a task force on the city's Public Safety Commission completed on March 8, found the following:

*Both fire departments are funded by property taxes of the residents served, in amounts defined by state law;

*The total number of calls for fire and medical and other services in the city is growing slightly, but the number of fire calls is in a decline and currently represents less than 5 percent of all calls;

*Emergency medical calls are on the rise and comprise some 47 percent of all calls. The study attributes the reason to the aging of many residents and the increasing number of small children;

*A high level of cooperation exists between the two departments already, since the departments have agreements to respond to incidents that are closest to their stations. The two departments do not rely on geographical borders, but, rather, the SFD responds sometimes to incidents outside its borders and the county department does the same. Also, the two departments have an agreement, called mutual aid, which allows more backup personnel and equipment, if a situation is severe;

*The most significant fire threat is the abundant vegetation and tree canopy found in and around the city;

*While the fire district has equipment that suffices due to the nature of the district--low rise buildings and residences--the county department has similar equipment, plus hazardous materials and brush patrol vehicles and ladder trucks. The fire district holds an agreement with the county department to use this additional equipment anywhere in the city, if needed;

*The responses of both departments to fires differ significantly. For a fire, the SFD sends out two engines, with three firefighters on each engine, for a total of six persons. Volunteers respond as well, but the SFD does not depend on them for the response, according to the study. The county department's response to fires is sending the same as that of the SFD--two engines and six people--plus one ladder truck staffed by four people, a rescue or a hazardous materials vehicle staffed with three people and a command vehicle with a chief officer, for a total of 14 persons. The county department uses volunteers, as well. Both departments send the same number of people and the same equipment for all medical calls. One fire engine with a paramedic onboard is the first responder for all medical assistance calls in the city. The county certifies paramedics for both departments;

*The training offered by both departments differs, according to the study. The county department has a dedicated training facility, and a training division, while the fire district does not;

*The one recommendation the public safety commission's study makes is for the SFD to explore ways to train firefighters when they are not in service, since all training is done while on-duty and in service, with the potential for interruption by emergency calls. In the county department, part of the training is done while the firefighters are not in service, although they are always on-duty.

The task force members interviewed the fire chiefs of both departments, as well as two captains in the SFD--Capt. Bill Morrison, the union president, and Capt. Jim Young. They also reviewed both departments' incidence response performance statistics. They attended public SFD Commissioners meetings, SFD training exercises and it reviewed a study that a private consulting firm completed in November on the SFD.

The task force did not talk to Saratoga citizens, or to members of FACT.

The chief of the county fire department, Douglas Sporleder, said he would like to incorporate the SFD into his department, since the mission of the county department is to promote a regional approach to fire protection. He also said that merging the two departments would increase fire and medical protection efficiency, and would improve the services of the county department, as well, for all the cities it serves, such as Cupertino and Los Gatos.

"It makes sense," Sporleder said. "We are a regional department. Clearly they sit right in the middle of what basically is our region."

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