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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-02-10 City Council (17)City of Palo Alto C ty Manager’s Report TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: FIRE DATE:FEBRUARY 10, 1997 CMR: 142:97 SUBJECT:AUTOMATIC AID FOR LOS ALTOS/LOS ALTOS HILLS REQUEST This is an informational report relating to automatic aid for Los Altos/Los Altos Hills. No Council action is required. RECOMMENDATIONS This informational staff report does not include any recommendations for Council action. POLICY IMPLICATIONS The content of this report is consistent with existing City Policies. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Within the past few weeks Santa Clara County Fire Protection District (formerly Central Fire Protection District) has requested automatic aid via County Communications into Los Altos Hills. Although Palo Alto does not currently have an automatic aid agreement with Santa Clara County Fire Protection District for this area, the Fire Department has .responded on three occasions. Palo Alto has never had an automatic aid agreement with LosAltos or Los Altos Hills, except during the fire season when station 8 was jointly staffed. There have been some misunderstandings regarding the change in the type of aid available, since the County began providing contract services to the City of Los Altos and the Los Altos County Fire Protection District in January. The Fire Department has in the past had a policy to automatically respond with mutual aid in accordance with the county wide mutual aid plan due to the limited quantity of resources within the Los Altos Fire Department. With Santa Clara County Fire Protection District as the fire service provider, the threshold for mutual aid has changed by virtue of the increased depth of their resources. CMR 142:97 Page 1 of 4 The Fire Chiefs of Palo Alto and Santa Clara County Fire Protection District have met to discuss the development of an automatic aid agreement which would be mutually beneficial to each jurisdiction. Staff expects to conclude these negotiations and return to Council with a recommendation within a few weeks. Until such time as these discussions are concluded, Palo Alto will continue to provide responses to requests for mutual aid in accordance with the county mutual aid plan. BACKGROUND AND ISSUES Palo Alto has never had an automatic aid agreement with Los Altos Fire Department, except for the joint staffing of fire station 8 during the summer. That has been on a year to year basis for the past three years. While this arrangement has enjoyed some success, it has also presented some issues. First, Los Altos Hills has enjoyed equal benefits for one-third the cost. Second, Los Altos Fire Department has not not always been able to be fully committed to the program. Palo Alto has responded to requests for mutual aid into Los Altos and Los Alto Hills over the years, and Los Altos has reciprocated by responding to our requests for mutual aid, although we have historically responded more frequently and with more resources than they. The distinction between automatic aid and mutual aid is an important one. The countywide mutual aid plan has resources designated by each jurisdiction that are available to be called upon, when a jurisdiction has utilized a significant amount of their own resources and require additional assistance. Palo Alto provides two resources to the countywide plan, which is typical for a department our size. Los Altos had provided one resource. State law provides certain protections for a municipality responding on mutual aid. First, it gives the authority to expend resources outside their jurisdiction~ second, it provides protection under the Worker’s Compensation law. Automatic aid agreements are between individual jurisdictions and are reciprocal and mutually beneficial in nature. They provide an ability for the closest unit to respond on a "first alarm assignment" regardless of jurisdiction. This occurs when a fire station from another jurisdiction is closer to parts of the other jurisdiction. We have such an arrangement with Mountain View and Menlo Park. We have never had one with Los Altos, because that geographical condition does not exist for us. Although we are closer to parts of Los Altos’ jurisdiction, particularly in the hills, there is no part of Palo Alto that they are closer to than us. Even when station 5 is on another assignment, station,2 is closer than the closest Los Altos fire station. CMR 142:97 Page 2 of 4 When Los Altos had its own department, it had only three fire engines and one rescue vehicle. Therefore, when two units were assigned, a significant amount (50 percent) of its resources were used and a call for mutual aid was appropriate. This is no longer the case now that Santa Clara County Fire Protection District has jurisdiction in Los Altos. Their depth is such that all three of the engines in Los Altos are not a significant amount of their resources. In fact, in their proposal to Los Altos, that was one of their key selling points, that because of thei{ depth they would not call for mutual aid until seven engines had been dispatched. It should also be pointed out that they actually have less units in Los Altos now than before the merger, because the rescue has been taken out of service there and they now have only three engines covering Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. In the past, the Fire Department has responded into Los Altos Hills with more than the specified two units as identified in the mutual aid plan for a couple of reasons.. This, in a way, provided a subsidy to Los Altos rather than being mutually reciprocal. First, because of Los Altos’ lack of depth, our own firefighter safety was a concern. Therefore, we treated the response as we would any other response into our own jurisdiction. Second, occasionally the fire was a threat to Palo Alto jurisdiction as well. When Palo Alto jurisdiction is threatened by a fire in Los Altos Hills the Fire Department responds as though it is our own jurisdiction. However, now that Santa Clara County Fire Protection District has more depth than Los Altos, the resource commitment of the county mutual aid plan is being followed, in effect ending the subsidy. Staff is in discussions with the Los Altos County Fire Protection District representatives, to 1) determine the level of service they are interested in with regard to automatic aid, and 2) negotiate reasonable compensation to the City of Palo Alto for coverage into the service area covered by the Los Altos County Fire Protection District in a manner which is mutually beneficial and reciprocal. Chief Sporleder of the Santa Clara County Fire Protection District and his staff have developed a proposal which is under review by Palo Alto staff. While the proposed joint response area for Santa Clara County into Palo Alto is larger than the joint response area for Palo Alto into Los Altos Hills, the Los Altos Hills area is more densely populated and will likely result in more responses by Palo Alto. Staff will continue to negotiate an automatic aid agreement, which is mutually beneficial to the City of Palo Alto and the Santa Clara County Fire Protection District. FISCAL IMPACT There is no direct fiscal impact to the City. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT There is no Environmental Assessment required for this report. CMR 142:97 Page 3 of 4 Prepared by: Ruben Grijalva, Fire Chief Department Head Review:RU ’B~~</~EN G~ALVA, Fire Chief City Manager Approval: get CMR 142:97 Page 4 of 4