South Bay county cancels Cal Fire service contract for parts of rural areas

MORGAN HILL, Calif. - A change in fire service providers for some Santa Clara County residents is set to take effect later this year, just as the region moves into the teeth of fire season.

"Change is always difficult for everyone and this particular agency, and this is going to produce a change for Cal Fire," said Sylvia Arenas, the District 1 representative on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

She said a financial day of reckoning has been coming for over a decade, concerning the current structure of a fire protection agreement with Cal Fire.

As a result, for the first time since 1980, 320 square miles of land in unincorporated south Santa Clara County will have a new fire protector.

On Tuesday, the county's Board of Supervisors cast a second and final vote to terminate its long-standing contract with Cal Fire.

"This is a move by the central fire agency to absorb more into their department to create a true county fire department," said Tim Edwards, president of Cal Fire local 2881, the union that represents the agency's firefighters.

Currently, residents outside of Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Martín are covered by the South Santa Clara County Fire District. 

However, county officials have said for the past several years that the district has been hemorrhaging money and is close to insolvency. In fact, officials said they've had to use money from the general fund to bridge the current fiscal shortfall. Now, the south fire district will be incorporated with the county's central fire district.

Officials pointed to a Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) report which stated, "This reorganization will streamline fire response activities and address longstanding structural challenges with maintaining adequate level of fire protection in South County."

"To make sure that south county continues to receive the kind of fire response they deserve, this restructure with central county fire district is optimal," said Arenas. "Really, this is all to do with financial solvency."

Cal Fire's union said starting the week of March 3, members will distribute informational flyers to impacted residents, which state the switch, slated to take place at the end of June, will be disastrous and potentially dangerous. 

Union officials claim it'll lead to the loss of 30 jobs, longer response times and greater vulnerability at a time when fire danger is the worst. 

Members believe any cost saving from a switch would be diminished, if not eliminated altogether, by higher salary costs.

"Cal Fire already costs a third to two-thirds cheaper than the salaries that they pay the central fire agency. If you look at, if people actually do their homework, their pension funds are bankrupt or having problems like that," said Edwards.

County officials said the only viable way to maintain the 1980 agreement is for affected south county residents to tax themselves to balance the books.

At a Board of Supervisors meeting discussing the topic on Jan. 14, some residents said they believed the change would be good.

"Now is the right time to consider combining these districts. Again, priority one is fire protection for south county," South county resident Ramon Lopez said at that time.

The county's LAFCO still has to sign off on the change in April. Once that happens, combining south and central fire protection services begins July 1.

The contract with Cal Fire to provide firefighting services within the city of Morgan Hill will remain in effect.

Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on the Instagram platform, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU