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Santa Rosa Fire announces new measures on anniversary of 2017 Tubbs Fire
The sales tax passed by Sonoma County voters in 2024 is helping to pay for a new engine and staffing for Santa Rosas Fire Department, which announced the expanded services on the 8th anniversary of the Tubbs Fire.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Santa Rosa's Fire Department announced it has purchased new equipment and increased staffing to protect the community from future wildfires, as firefighters marked the 8th anniversary of the deadly 2017 Tubbs Fire.
At a press conference Wednesday, the Santa Rosa Fire Chief Scott Westrope and Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal announced the department is putting a new Engine Number 9 into service, and have created a new battalion chief and two fire prevention positions.
The funding comes from Measure H, a half-cent sales tax which Sonoma County voters passed by 61% in March 2024.
Memories of the Tubbs Fire are deeply personal to the firefighters who watched their own houses and neighborhoods burn on October 8, 2017, in a series of fires that claimed 22 lives.
"Myself and the fire marshal, we both lost our homes and a lot of families did obviously...3,500 homes were lost in Santa Rosa. 5,000 throughout the community...but they don't really hold a candle to lives that were lost," Chief Westrope said.
"At one point, I was within one mile of my own house. And even I had become complacent over my lifetime of how fire can affect my community," Santa Rosa Fire Dept. Captain Matt Tognozzi, who also serves as president of the firefighters' union, said.
"Countywide, it puts 200 more firefighters in the seats of fire engines. That was one of the biggest things we saw on the night of the LNU Complex Fires. We have a bunch of great volunteer fire agencies that surround us. The hardest part is getting them in and getting them to our city. Now, we have more paid firefighters," Tognozzi said.
"I think that's cool. The more firefighters the better. I know it gets tough during the dry season," Xavier Griffin of Santa Rosa said.
"I think people are being a lot more careful and more aware of their surroundings," Rae Root of Sonoma County said.
"It's just amazing. I've been working here 25 years and this is the biggest expansion we've had really in that time that I've been here," said Scott Bristow, a newly promoted Battalion Chief.
The Santa Rosa Fire Department plans to use the funding to build a new fire station for the Engine 9 unit in the coming year. The sales tax funding also is helping to provide new protective gear, from boots to masks and filters.
"Prior to this kind of technology, all we really had was a bandanna to filter the air, so this is going to be a gamechanger," Batt. Chief Bristow said.
The Santa Rosa Fire Chief says they hope to have a location identified for the new fire station within the next 12 months.