Each department provides fire services for approximately half of the city of Saratoga.

Saratoga Fire Chief Gordon Duncan said he met with county fire officials to discuss eliminating his job.

Duncan said the proposed functional merger would do away with the chief position in Saratoga and give the Santa Clara County chief control over the department. The change would be solely administrative, and the city and county departments would remain financially independent.

Saratoga Fire District Board Chairman Robert Egan said Duncan would like to retire because of recent back problems and surgery, and the merger is a logical solution since both departments already share many resources.

"County fire is all around us," Egan said. "Functionally, we do everything they do, and they do everything we do."

He said Saratoga firefighters already train with the Santa Clara department, and the two districts have instituted a boundary drop—when an emergency call comes in, firefighters are dispatched from whichever department can respond fastest, regardless of which district the call comes from.

Santa Clara County Fire Department Chief Ben Lopes said the merger would provide a number of opportunities for the district.

"There's an opportunity to provide a standard level of service throughout Saratoga," he said. "There's also an opportunity to standardize procedures, and there would be a greater depth of resources available."

Duncan said that in the past, relations between the two departments have been weak. But recent improvements in that area helped pave the way for talks about the administrative shift.

"We need to get out of argumentation," he said. "We now have a strong relationship. If we didn't, we wouldn't be having this discussion."

Saratoga Fire District attorney Hal Topple brought the idea to the board because Burlingame's fire department, which he also represents, recently went through a similar merger. Topple said the Saratoga district station would basically act as another county station. He said Saratoga firefighters would be able to apply for positions elsewhere in the county department when they became available.

"Each department maintains its own individuality, but the administration is merged," Topple said at the district's March 25 meeting. "The idea is to have a seamless organization."

One potential conflict Egan mentioned is that Assistant Chief Ron Vega's position would also be eliminated. But he said that with Duncan retiring, only one actual job loss is not such a bad situation to deal with.

Both Duncan and Lopes said the merger is just in the discussion and fact-finding stages right now.

"This is the very beginning of the process," he said. "This is not an overnight decision."

The two chiefs and other staff planned to have a discussion again this week.