Giuseppe Ricapito
The Marin Independent Journal, Novato, Calif.
(TNS)
Jan. 15—The Ross Valley Fire Department board, denying a request by Ross for more time, said Station 18 will close by July 1 as planned.
The board made the decision during its meeting on Jan. 8 after Ross representatives renewed a pitch to delay the closure until July 1, 2026.
The Ross fire station, built in 1926, is considered outdated. The fire department is updating its operations to staff three firefighters per engine, and closing the Ross station will increase staffing at stations in San Anselmo and Fairfax.
Ross officials sought the delay because of concerns about decreased response times by paramedics.
“This shouldn’t be an either-or situation, that is, that either Ross continues to have good emergency medical response times with its own fire engine or that the other Ross Valley fire engines are staffed with three people,” said Elizabeth Robbins, a member of the Ross Town Council. “Upstaffing the RVFD engines shouldn’t come at the expense of providing adequate emergency service to any jurisdiction.”
The Ross Valley fire board, which includes two Ross representatives, voted unanimously in 2022 to close the Ross station. Changing the closure date would have required unanimous support from the board members and a new vote to amend the decision.
The members would then have to secure ratifying votes from their respective municipal boards and renegotiate with the Ross Valley Firefighters Association, said Dan Mahoney, the fire chief.
The proposed delay found little support.
“We appreciate the concerns brought up in the letters written from Ross to the fire board,” said Tommy Pastalka, the union president. “What we can’t appreciate is how a Town Council, in making such a significant decision that would affect all of its constituents, failed to understand the basic service levels provided by a Ross Valley Fire Department engine company.”
San Anselmo Councilmember Steve Burdo, a member of the fire board, said the preparation has already begun for an estimated $3.6 million upgrade at Station 20 in San Anselmo. The proposed delay could crimp those plans, he said.
“The time for these types of revelations to instigate any meaningful change has long passed, and I think we need to move forward,” he said.
Fairfax Councilmember Barbara Coler, also a board member, agreed. Fire Station 21 on Park Road in Fairfax is being updated at an estimated cost of $1.5 million.
“It’s time,” she said. “I know there’s been a lot of rumors and a lot of angst that I think has settled down, so I can’t support moving forward with the delay.”
Fairfax Councilmember Stephanie Hellman, a board member, added that “there are problems with Station 18.”
“Nobody should be working in those conditions,” she said. “It’s disrespectful. The current state is disrespectful and to keep them there is disrespectful.”
The Ross Valley Paramedic Authority has operated one of its two paramedic ambulances out of the Ross fire station since the early 1980s. A master facilities plan adopted by the Town Council in 2023 included a new paramedic ambulance facility at an estimated cost of $2 million, but the plans are on hold because of increasing costs.
The authority’s board has signaled its support for keeping an ambulance assigned to a new station in Ross. Mahoney said the town and the paramedic authority remain in negotiations over the proposed plan.
The paramedic authority, created in 1982, operates on a $3.3 million budget funded by parcel taxes in member communities. It provides emergency services to Corte Madera, Fairfax, Ross, San Anselmo, Larkspur, Kentfield, the Sleepy Hollow Fire Protection District and unincorporated pockets of the Ross Valley.
Originally Published: January 15, 2025 at 4:08 PM PST
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