Fire Services (Central Marin Fire Authority)

2022/23 FY began with several large fire burning throughout Northern California, which required mutual assistance from several agencies including Central Marin Fire resources. Along with continued wildfire theats, our communities experienced atmospheric river rain and wind events that caused localized flooding, land movement (slides), and power outages throughout the entire service area. CMFA has been busy reducing the wildfire threat by accomplishing a several fuels reduction projects, defensible space inspections, and home hardening evaluations. The 2023/24 budget will continue to allow for the Central Marin Fire Authority to provide outstanding services to the residents and visitors to our communities.

SERVICES

MANDATED/CORE SERVICES: The City and Town are required to provide a full complement of fire protection and prevention services pursuant to State law (Fire Code §104 and §202, Health and Safety Code §13109, and Government Code §§38600-38611) and Local Municipal Codes. This responsibility is accomplished through support of the Central Marin Fire Authority.

ADDITIONAL SERVICES: The Fire Department provides Emergency Medical Services in partnership with the Ross Valley Paramedic Authority (RVPA), an eight-member joint powers authority for paramedic service in the Ross Valley. The Department provides out-of-county mutual aid for major incidents when requested. Agency staff are also assigned to County response teams in the areas of hazardous materials emergencies, urban search and rescue, incident management, fire investigation, regional training and critical incident stress management. The Department also offers public education using the standardized CERT and Get Ready curriculum, as well as other disaster readiness and safety programs. CPR and AED courses are also provided.

• CMFA crews began work on portions of the Greater Ross Valley Fuel Break (GRVSFB) that are within the Town of Corte Madera. The GRVSFB is a a 38-mile shaded fuel break running along the backyards of about 1,700 parcels. The fuel reduction zone includes about 1,300 acres from Corte Madera to Fairfax. The project is designed to slow the spread of wildfire to give firefighters time and space to suppress the flames. This project would reduce fire risk to several communities in the wildland urban interface (otherwise known as the WUI) while improving forest and ecosystem health by reducing non-native plant cover.
• Managed a successful recruitment to fill 4 vacant firefighter paramedic position.
• Successfully passed the renewal of the paramedic tax, which allows to provide paramedics on every fire engine and staff a paramedic ambulance 24 hours a day - 365 days a year.
• Successfully began to implement our employee career development plan, which supports the fire department staff to seek new training and education opportunities wile maintain existing skill sets. The employee career development plan is intended to create a succession plan for ythe future leaders of the organization/community.
• Sent firefighting crews to multiple major incidents outside the County through our participation in the California Master Mutual Aid Agreement. All overtime and maintenance costs associated with our responses to these incidents are fully reimbursed and our participation provides valuable firefighting experience for our personnel.
• Our fire prevention staff participated and executed the planning and coordination of the MWPA defensible space program where 2,142 homes were evaluated for wildfire hazards with 11,765 issues identified, and 44 of the properties abated of wildfire hazards, managed and completed over 84 vegetation management projects.
• Finalized the facilities needs assessments of the Authorities 4 fire stations (2 Corte Madera & 2 Larkspur) that are in need of renovation, repair, and/or replacement.
• Initiated meetings with Ross Valley Fire Department in order to explore options of a potential Shared Services Agreement for executive and command staff personnel.

• Implement Phase II of the Facilities Needs Assessment

In 2021/22 Central Marin Fire Authority began a facilities needs assessment to determine the current state of the Authories 4 fire station and whether repair, renovations, or complete replacement is necessary. Phase II of the facilities needs assessment will include a Standards of Cover study that will look at response times from each of the 4 fire stations to determine if they are located in the most appropriate locations for response to the entire service area.

• Implement a Shared Services Agreement between Central Marin Fire Authority & Ross Valley Fire Department

Central Marin Fire Authority began to have meetings with the Ross Valley Fire Department regarding the possibility of a shared services agreement for executive and command staff personnel. Shared services among fire agencies where there are opportunities to reduce redundancies while improving services to the community is responsible governance. The shared services model will allow our agency to improve upon the current services provided while implementing and/or enhancing new programs.

• Implement the Employee Development Academy

Central Marin Fire Authority staff in partnership with Southern Marin Fire Protection District Staff has developed an employee development academy intended to provide training on skills needed to successfully promote to formal leadership roles within the organization

• Continue Regional Partnerships (and attempt to expand where practical)

Current partnerships include the Ross Valley Paramedic Authority, Marin County Fire Investigation Team, Marin County Hazardous Materials Response Team, Marin County Urban Search and Rescue Team, shared services agreement with the Kentfield Fire Protection District for the sharing of fire personnel. Dispatch services are provided by contract with the Sheriff’s Office.

• Assist with the process to move the Marin Emergency Radio Authority (MERA) Next Generation radio system forward

In November 2014, Marin County voters approved funding for a new radio system. Staff will continue to participate in the regional migration towards the new countywide emergency radio system, which should come on-line in 2023-2024.

• Continue to support our community in disaster preparedness and resilience.

Staff continues to work with our local Community Emergency Response Team(s) “CERT” and the Neighborhood Response Groups “NRG’s” by providing training and education to become better prepared and to become resilient in the event of a major emergency.

• Successfully complete the transition from the Sheriff’s Emergency Dispatch Center to a Fire Emergency Dispatch Center

In 2022, fire agencies within Marin were notified by the Marin Sheriff’s Office that they would no longer be able to dispatch fire agencies within the County. Staff has been working with executive staff members from all of the Marin County fire agencies to implement a fire department managed emergency dispatch center that will be scheduled to be fully perational in the spring of 2024.