San Rafael, CA – The Marin County Fire Department is growing by four positions for the next two years to improve personnel coverage at local stations, boost wildfire fuel reduction efforts and bolster its defensible space program.
A partnership between Marin County Fire and Marin County Parks is resulting in enhanced wildfire response coverage.
All told, the move will cost about $1.82 million over the next two years in salaries and costs of equipment, vehicles and maintenance. However, there will be no increase in net costs to the County’s General Fund because of new funding agreements with the
Marin County Open Space District and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, aka CAL FIRE.
The Marin County Board of Supervisors approved the fixed-term positions during its April 9 meeting.
“This allows us to provide more consistent and experienced leadership to the two existing seasonal fire crews without reducing personnel assigned to engine companies and fire stations,” Fire Chief Jason Weber said.
On March 26, Marin County Fire announced the proposed enhanced partnership with Marin County Parks to use tax revenues from Parks’ Measure A to cover part of the firefighting enhancements. The partnership is providing $2.32 million over two years to help support a crew that will be assigned to reduce potential for damaging wildfires by cutting, chipping, removing, and burning hazardous vegetation using chainsaws, chippers, masticators and other specialized equipment. Parks’ contribution includes costs for project management and environmental reviews.
Emergency readiness is not only one of the Board of Supervisors’ top priorities, but a recent resident survey showed that disaster preparedness and environmental issues ranked among the top concerns of those living in Marin.
Residents are urged to register their contact information with Alert Marin notification system overseen by the Sheriff’s OES. More information about fire safety can be found on the Fire Safe Marin website and the Marin County Fire website. Learn about how to prepare an emergency kit at the Ready Marin website.