Fire Department Merger Moves Forward

The Burlingame City Council on Monday approved going forward with a plan to consolidate its fire department with the cities of Millbrae and .

The council, in a 4-1 vote, directed staff to proceed with the fire merger’s implementation plan, the first step of which will be piloting a temporary station in the hills of Burlingame.

“I will go with the pilot because it is a pilot,” said Councilmember Ann Keighran. “It gives a chance for the public to see it.”

The Central County Fire Department (CCFD) now serves Burlingame and Hillsborough.

The fire service expansion effort began in 2007; the four cities involved have commissioned two studies.

Last week, city councils in Millbrae, San Bruno, and Hillsborough .

The consolidation is expected to save Burlingame $546,000 a year, according to a staff report. Millbrae and San Bruno would save $375,000 and $230,000, respectively.

The savings mainly come from closing two fire stations in the Burlingame and Millbrae hills and building a new station between the shuttered stations.

During the pilot phase, the council voted to use a federation model where the fire departments will share administration duties but allows each city to retain its own firefighters.

Councilmember Cathy Baylock, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said she was concerned about the impacts of closing another fire station with

“I just don’t think it’s the right thing to close two stations and build a brand new to save the amount of money that is being proposed,” Baylock said. “It’s a radical, big step that going to have lots impacts and unintended consequences.”

City officials have been working to agree on a cost-sharing model for the consolidation.  If the merger takes effect, CCFD would pay half of the services; San Bruno, 30 percent; and Millbrae would cover the remaining 20 percent. 

Two representatives from each city would oversee the newly expanded fire department, although council members said they want to look at alternative forms of governance.

In all, the merger would save CCFD $3.4 million, the majority of the savings coming from keeping station 36 closed, according to a staff report.

Vice Mayor Jerry Deal said the fire savings are only a Band-Aid to deal with the larger problem of a declining revenue base.

Deal said the firefighter unions would have to cooperate if the fire merger is going to be successful.

A couple of council members suggested that city staff research the Cal-Fire model of fire protection service, which according to City Manager Jim Nantell, costs 30 percent less than Burlingame’s service.

Nantell said it would take about a year to test out the temporary station and determine whether the joint fire service can meet response times and savings projections.