The Saratoga Fire District was established in 1923. This 1983 photograph shows firefighters ready to board an engine.
Saratoga News file photo
Fanning the Flames
SFD commissioners fight back with an advertisement. County chief says 'letter' demonized his department.
By Kara Chalmers
As the Saratoga Fire District nears the end of what has become a nine-month study of the district's fire and medical services, one thing is still unclear: whether the district should merge with the Santa Clara County Fire Department.
While SFD commissioners say no, the union firefighters in the SFD say a wholehearted "yes." For the past few weeks, the two sides have been engaged in a public, and sometimes heated, "he said, she said" match about which option is the better choice for the Saratoga Fire District, the firefighters and the residents who live in the district that encompasses half the city.
Although the SFD has placed much weight on the findings of the study, the study makes no recommendations on whether the district should merge with the county. The study does include data on the county department, and it also makes suggestions for how the SFD might improve its services.
The county fire department, which serves seven neighboring towns, covers the half of Saratoga not covered by the SFD. The independent SFD has auto and mutual aid agreements with the county department. That means that if the SFD needs backup equipment and personnel in an emergency, it can get it from the county department, if available. Alternatively, the SFD also helps the county department. SFD Capt. Bill Morrison, the union president, said he is worried that one day, county firefighters won't be available to help the SFD out in an emergency.
"One of these days, it's going to happen," Morrison said, "That's what we're trying to avoid."
According to SFD Fire Chief Ernie Kraule and the three elected commissioners who rule the SFD--Robert Egan, Jay Geddes and Henry Clarke--it is important to retain control of fire services locally and to keep the district--formed in 1923--intact. They say the department is unique and tailored to Saratoga's specific needs. The district has never had any problems with its level of service, commissioners say, so they do not see the need for a change now.
Furthermore, they claim that--instead of merging with the county--it would be more financially viable for the SFD to take control of services for the entire city. In addition, the commissioners charge that union firefighters are only pushing for a merger with the county department since they believe the county offers more opportunities for advancement.
The union firefighters say otherwise. According to them, a contract with the county would provide a higher level of safety for firefighters and residents since the county sends more personnel and equipment to structure fires and wildland fires than the SFD does. While acknowledging that there may be more opportunities for advancement in the county department, the SFD union firefighters say that the overarching motivation is their own safety when fighting fires and the safety of the district's residents.
Furthermore the county has its own training facility and staff, four ladder trucks, a fire safety house, a hazardous materials unit, a fire prevention bureau and a maintenance and repair shop--all functions that the SFD currently lacks, and some of which the SFD uses when it needs to. Union firefighters claim a contract with the county would increase safety and services--all for the same or lower cost than what the SFD spends today.
But until the commission asks the county to negotiate a contract--and the commission has done nothing to suggest it would consider such a move--the union and the commission could argue about which would be the cheaper option forever.
Ironically, the commissioners have said that if it turns out the county can provide the services the district needs for less cost than the SFD can, they would have no problem contracting. But until the commissioners ask for a price, the county cannot offer one, according to Santa Clara County Fire Chief Douglas Sporleder.
Finally, a major point of contention between the commission and the union firefighters is the reason for the level-of-service study, which has taken a private consulting firm, DMG Maximus, nine months to complete. The commissioners say the study's point is to show if and how the SFD's level of service could be improved. But the union firefighters say the reason they threw their support behind the commissioners' $6 million bond measure for a new fire station--which Saratoga voters passed in April--was because the commissioners agreed to a study that would involve the county fire department and would include a recommendation on a merger. Before that, the union firefighters had threatened not to support the measure since the commissioners denied the union's request to contract with the county. Somewhere along the way, the focus of the study changed, said Morrison, and it was never adequately explained why.
Saratoga firefighter/engineer Parker Patri instructs the salvage operations drill at the tower facility at the county fire department training center in Campbell.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
A Study of Service
From the beginning, the SFD commissioners kept the study process private, although district taxpayers' money paid for the $25,000 study, leading union firefighters, and now some residents, to suspect that the district administration has something to hide. The commission has held that the process had to be kept private so that inaccurate information from the DMG reports sent to the district, which were all drafts, would not get out to the public. The study was also only supposed to take 12 weeks, according to DMG's proposal.
The consultants' first report, marked "draft" and "confidential," compared the SFD with the county department. DMG concluded--based on interviews with firefighters and administration from both departments--that the county could operate a fire station at a lower cost than the SFD could, since the county's overhead cost is lower. The SFD administration kept this report from the firefighters and the media at first, saying it contained inaccuracies that would create confusion if distributed.
The second draft report from DMG, a revised version of the first, included only information on the SFD and took out all comparisons with the county. The third draft, dated Nov. 3, 2000, makes recommendations on how the SFD could be improved and it also compares the SFD with Hillsborough, Woodside and Rancho Santa Fe fire departments. It includes some statistics on the county department but makes no recommendations on whether or not a contract would be a good idea.
Sporleder, as a member of the committee on the study, said his department has tried to keep itself at arm's length in the study process, since the SFD hired DMG to evaluate the SFD, not the county. Still, he said he has always believed the study should have been conducted out in the open and that he gave DMG statistics on response times, costs and personnel willingly. He had no problem with data on his department being included in the SFD's study, since he considers the county data as public information. He said he never considered the first report an evaluation of his department.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Bad Publicity
According to Sporleder, he sits on the study committee because Egan asked him for his help and expertise. Now, he said the SFD seems to be trying to demonize his department, which he said helps the SFD and which has tried to stay out of the union's battle with the commission. Sporleder, along with firefighters in the county department, cites as an example an "Open Letter to the Citizens of Saratoga," a full-page paid advertisement that ran in the Nov. 1 issue of the SARATOGA NEWS. The district paid $972 for the ad.
"We're being demonized and when that happens, it's very hard not to become defensive," Sporleder said.
According to SFD Chief Ernie Kraule, the ad was in response to the positive publicity he believed the union was getting and the positive slant he perceived toward the union's position in the SARATOGA NEWS. He said the ad was a chance for the SFD to give its side of the story.
"The district felt it needed to blow its own horn," Kraule said, adding that the ad was done out of desperation and was not meant to be a criticism of the newspaper.
Playing itself out in the background of the merger issue is an eminent domain legal challenge involving a piece of property behind the Saratoga Fire Station. According to Kraule, the case may have caused him and the commissioners to be extra closed and private about all matters concerning the SFD. Kraule said that the SFD attorneys and consultants have told him and the commissioners not to discuss the case, so it has been difficult for him to defend the district in the face of the union's positions.
The case involves the SFD taking over the property in back of the fire station to use as a temporary station during construction of the new one, and to use after completion of the project for a training room and other uses. The case was set to go to trial on Nov. 6, but has been delayed until a judge can be found to hear the matter.
Union firefighters have questioned whether a contract with the county might remove the necessity of the building. They say that if the two departments merge, the county could set up temporary housing in its portable trailers during construction of the new station. With a merger, there would be no need for a training facility after the station is built since the county department already has one. The commission's stance is that the back building is a necessary part of the renovation plans, no matter what happens.
Sporleder maintains that the letter from the SFD that ran as a paid advertisement, contained misinformation and made the county department look inept. That makes it more difficult for the county to stay out of the fray, he said. He added that it would be hard to keep his firefighters from attending the meetings on the issue that the city of Saratoga has scheduled, such as the city's public safety commission meeting on Nov. 9.
"We're not a two-headed monster," Sporleder said, "I don't want to inflame. I want to be sure our position is known, that we haven't been asked to dance yet but if we are asked, this is what we'd bring to the table."
Sporleder said if the commissioners asked him to "dance," he would have to take the request to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, which serves as the elected supervisory board of fire commissioners for the county department, for permission to negotiate. He said he would see a very positive benefit to contracting.
When asked how much a contract with the county department would cost the SFD, which has more than $2.4 million per year to spend, Sporleder stressed that a final cost would be a product of negotiation. He said he could only estimate a cost, based on comparable fire departments that have already contracted with the county, such as Los Altos Hills, and which, like Saratoga, had a one-station organization when they contracted.
According to Sporleder, Los Altos Hills, has an annual budget of $1.6 or $1.7 million and a station that is smaller than the new SFD station that is planned. It houses a ladder truck, one engine and a brush patrol. Four people are always on duty at the station.
The county maintains a minimum of three personnel on duty per station, Sporleder said, but added that Saratoga would have complete control over how many people and engines it would like to house in the station if it contracts. Going by Los Altos Hills' station's budget, eight personnel on duty would cost $3.2 million, or double, according to Sporleder. A maximum of six personnel, which is the average number of on-duty personnel in the SFD today (although sometimes there are as many as eight) would cost around $2.4 million, using the above figures--approximately the cost of SFD's budget today.
When there are fires in Los Altos Hills, six firefighters from Los Altos, three from Cupertino and a battalion chief from the Monta Vista station respond, along with the Los Altos Hills group, according to Sporleder.
If the SFD ever contracted with the county, Sporleder suggested that three firefighters from the Cox Avenue station, six from the Seven Springs station, a ladder truck from Los Gatos and Cupertino and a battalion chief from Los Gatos would respond to a fire, along with firefighters stationed at the current SFD station.
Saratoga News File Photograph
Saratoga Fire District firefighting attire is at-the-ready in this photograph taken in the 1980s.
Tale of Two Departments
The county department consists of 265 personnel, 40 volunteers, 16 fire stations, six support facilities and more than 100 vehicles.
The SFD has three engines, one of which is a reserve engine.
In the SFD, there is a maximum of eight paid firefighters per shift with three shifts. Each shift is comprised of a captain, three engineers, two firefighters and two apprentices--student firefighters on contract who are paid half of what firefighters make. There are 24 responding personnel, plus a chief, a business manager, a dispatcher and an administrative assistant that make up SFD staff. From the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. on weekdays, and during the weekend and holidays, one firefighter is taken off duty to handle dispatch for the SFD.
In the SFD, there are some 25 active and inactive volunteers.
The way the county department and the SFD each respond to structure and wildland fires differs. The SFD sends two fire engines and between six to eight firefighters to a structure fire. The county department sends two engines, a ladder truck, a battalion chief and a hazardous materials or rescue truck, and 14 firefighters in all.
The SFD sends two engines to hazardous brush fires in the hillsides, and six to eight personnel, while the county sends two engines, a four-wheel drive engine, and one battalion chief.
On medical calls, the two departments respond the same: one engine with a paramedic. However, in the SFD, there is only one paramedic per shift, so if there is more than one medical call in the district at the same time, a paramedic from somewhere else must respond. However, the SFD has hired paramedics, who are currently in school, so that every engine will be staffed with a paramedic in the future. In the county, every engine is staffed now with a paramedic.
The two departments offer salary and benefit packages that are similar. According to Sporleder, while SFD firefighters wouldn't take a pay cut if the two departments merge into the county department, they would not necessarily get pay raises, either.
Because there are levels above firefighters and captains in the county department--battalion chiefs and deputy chiefs--there are more opportunities for firefighter advancement with the county.
Response time is another point of contention, specifically, the time it takes to transfer calls from one department to the next. Today, if a the county needs to help the SFD by providing backup, there may be a small delay owing to the time it takes to transfer the emergency call from the SFD to the county. According to Sporleder, the delay could be from 30 seconds to a minute. A contract would give the SFD access to network on an instant basis, he said. Commissioners say this is not a valid argument for contracting.
The Saratoga Fire District station, a familiar landmark at Saratoga Avenue and Highway 9, is due to be replaced, thanks to passage of a $6 million bond measure in April. Pressure from union firefighters has raised questions about the need for additional property behind the station.
Saratoga News File Photograph
A Tale of Two Cities
For years, the Santa Clara County Fire Department has grown by adding city after city to its ranks. Its vision statement is to promote the regionalization of fire services. So talk of Saratoga being the next city to go is not new and has actually been heard since the Los Gatos, Burbank and Alma fire departments consolidated to become the county fire department in the late 1960s.
In the late 1970s, the county department attempted to draw Saratoga, Campbell, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and part of San Jose into the department, but didn't succeed. In 1982, a move by the union firefighters in the county department--not the administration--to take over the SFD by force, was not supported by the SFD administration or firefighters.
When the city of Campbell contracted with the county in 1993, some council members, at the time, had some strong reservations, among them Jeanette Watson, a current Campbell City Council member, and Donald Burr, who was just elected to the council again on Nov. 7.
"It was a very difficult decision to make since we had had our own fire department long before Campbell was a city, and because there was a sentimental attachment," Watson said. "I think people thought their own fire department would do a better job. I think that people are very satisfied and that county is doing a fine job for us."
According to Watson, the decision was difficult for her personally since she is a historian and had written a book on Campbell's history.
"Now, I don't think anything was lost," she said. "We have our station still, so you see your fire department is right there. We see our fire department at events, they do come and participate."
She added that the county department may seem a little more impersonal, but she thinks the advantage of "getting a lot of help if you need it" makes up for it.
Burr agrees the move was a good one for Campbell. He said he thinks there are fewer firefighters at the two Campbell fire stations, but that there is a quicker response of more personnel from the other stations.
"As I recall, it cost the city less to contract than to maintain our own at the time," Burr said, adding that no hidden costs came up after the fact, at least, that he is aware of.
"My concern was, were they going to be staffed as well, a quicker response," Burr said.
Burr was the lone vote against contracting when the council voted 4-1 for a merger.
"I thought we had a great fire department at the time," he said, but said of the county, "They have given us a great level of service. They've done a great job and I'd be the first one to say so. The response time is good, plenty of staff at the fires when we need them. I've been pleased with their level of service.
The Los Altos Hills case differs from Campbell's, but may be more comparable to Saratoga. When Los Altos Hills contracted with the county in 1996, the seven-member board of fire commissioners stayed intact and still plays a major role in making decisions about fire and medical services in the community of Los Altos Hills according to Sid Hubbard, who is the president of the commission. The commission is called the Los Altos Hills County Fire Protection District; it is a special district of the county.
Today, the city has the same number of stations, one, and the same number of personnel as before. But there is more backup and now the city benefits from a paramedic service that it didn't have before, at a bargain price, Hubbard said.
"We've been very pleased with the service we've gotten from county fire," Hubbard said. "They've been very professional and very responsive to our local needs. Right from the get-go, we knew we were going to get a much higher level of service for less money ... I think they have even performed better than we were expecting."
According to Hubbard, the community events that the old Los Altos Hills Fire Department staged did not stop when the department contracted.
"The fire chief in particular has stayed in close contact with us to make sure we feel we have some say-so and know what's going on," Hubbard said. "We definitely have his ear."
Photograph by Capt. Jim Young
Saratoga Fire District Capt. Jim Young and other paid and volunteer SFD firefighters participated in a confined-space rescue training exercise Oct. 28-29, at the old Santa Clara County quarry off Highway 9 in Saratoga. The firefighters practiced ropes skills for rescuing people from collapsed buildings, manholes, underground vaults or water tanks, according to Young.
City gets involved
The Saratoga Public Safety Commission, one arm of Saratoga city government, voted 6-0 at its meeting Nov. 9, to form a task force to study the merits of the arguments from both sides of the issue--the union firefighters' side and the SFD administration's side.
When three members of the public showed up to speak on their concerns about the SFD at an Oct. 18 Saratoga City Council meeting, the council referred the matter to the Public Safety Commission for fact-finding, and it was placed on the commission's agenda for Nov. 9.
The commission on Nov. 9 decided that Commissioner Hugh Hexamer would head the task force, figure out who will serve on it and bring the task force's findings back to the commission. At some point, the commission will have to report back to the council with a recommendation.
The public safety commission's chairperson, Fran Andreson, was the first commissioner to suggest the idea of a task force--at least comprised of members of the public and city of Saratoga representatives--after listening to an hour of testimony Nov. 9 from residents, firefighters, commissioners and the chiefs from both fire departments.
The city has involved itself with other districts in the city before, according to Saratoga Mayor Stan Bogosian, who noted that the city set a precedent in 1997, when the council passed a resolution supporting the realignment of school district boundaries.
The city at that time took a position on the issue, Bogosian said, so it would not be unheard of for it to make a recommendation on the fate of the SFD, one way or the other.
Still, the city does not have any power over the SFD Commission, which controls itself, the way any school district in the city does. SFD voters elect each of the three SFD commissioners for four-year terms. It is the commissioners, who are required to live in the district, who appoint the SFD Fire Chief. In Nov. 2001, the terms of two of the commissioners, Clarke and Geddes, are up. Commissioner Egan's term expires in Nov. 2003.
"I don't think we have to support anything," said Hexamer. "That's not the issue, because the bottom line has to be undertaken by the other government, not our government."
Still, Hexamer said the commission has worked with other governmental districts, such as the Saratoga Union School District, in the past, and he feels that the commission could work with the SFD and the union firefighters and county department now.
"On all sides of this issue, there are lots of emotions," he said. "But certainly a constructive resolution of all these issues can be reached."
Saratoga, California Since 1955
