Metcalf presents at LAFCO fire and emergency medical services workshop

North County Fire Protection District fire chief Bill Metcalf was one of the presenters at a fire and emergency medical services workshop which was part of the Feb. 2 meeting of San Diego County's Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO).

Metcalf, who is also the immediate past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, provided an overview of fire and emergency medical services before speaking about cooperative service delivery models involving local government and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), challenges and obstacles to shared services and other models of service delivery, and trends for service sustainability.

Prior to Metcalf's presentation, LAFCO local government consultant John Traylor, who was previously the Coronado Fire Department fire chief, provided an overview of the workshop format, of LAFCO jurisdictional actions since 2008, and of LAFCO's current reorganization projects. The workshop also included presentations from Heartland Fire and Rescue fire chief Rick Sitta and Solana Beach city manager David Ott.

The workshop was intended to provide information regarding ongoing and emerging issues affecting fire protection and emergency medical service in San Diego County and also to allow the LAFCO board to consider setting priorities and strategies for 2015 and beyond.

"We are very dependent on one another mutually," Traylor said.

"An agency that is struggling to provide a level of service does have an impact on the rest of the region," Traylor said. "It's very important that we be aware of struggles within our region."

In 2008, the County of San Diego, in conjunction with LAFCO, created the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority (SDCRFA). The SDCRFA is actually a zone of the county's special district covering regional communications (which eliminated the need to create a separate legal district), and LAFCO can authorize latent powers for fire protection and emergency medical services.

The SDCRFA hybrid plan called for the initial activation of latent powers in the 943,876 acres served by volunteer fire departments but not within a legal fire protection agency at the time. The second phase in the plan was implemented in 2011 and brought five county service areas responsible for fire protection and emergency medical services into the SDCRFA, adding 137,000 acres to the latent powers area.

"Since 2008 the County of San Diego has taken a leadership role," Traylor said.

The third phase will consolidate willing fire protection districts; within the next few months, LAFCO is expected to act on the proposal to replace the Pine Valley Fire Protection District and the San Diego Rural Fire Protection District with an expansion of SDCRFA latent powers into those areas.

Two county service areas providing fire protection and emergency medical services were not included in the 2011 consolidation. County Service Area No. 107, which covers Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove, may be more logically merged with the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District. Both fire departments are supportive of the merger which would also require expansion of the county service area providing paramedic service to part of Elfin Forest as well as to Rancho Santa Fe and to city fire department successors of former fire protection districts.

After Santee incorporated as a city and the Santee Fire Protection District was replaced with the city fire department, the Pepper Grove area which was part of the fire district but not part of the new city became County Service Area No. 115; LAFCO is working with the Lakeside Fire Protection District and the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District to determine the more appropriate neighbor to annex the CSA No. 115 area.

Metcalf has been on the International Association of Fire Chiefs board for the past seven years. "The economic downturn has left fire departments significantly damaged," he said. "Their budgets have been dramatically reduced."

Metcalf estimates that mutual aid responses are down approximately 20 percent from 2006-07. While some of the economic struggles are due to decreased revenues from the economic downturn, fire districts also have pension obligations which are associated with another issue. "We've also seen a significant departure in leadership," Metcalf said.

The need for fire agencies to cut service has also adversely affected relationships between fire departments and their communities.

As the economy improves for many fire districts, their boards will consider whether to use the additional revenue to restore services to previous levels or to make changes in the fire department. "With few exceptions there is economic recovery taking place," Metcalf said. "That economic recovery has left the fire service in a difficult place."

The fire service lacks metrics to determine appropriate spending levels for appropriate service. "We are not able to justify the cost-effectiveness of the service we provide," Metcalf said. "The question we can't answer is: 'Are we a good bang for the buck?'"

That lack of quantitative information prevents fire departments from justifying a particular level of staffing. "There's little data to support the answers to those questions," Metcalf said. "There isn't a clear answer. Lots of opinions, but not much of a clear answer."

Changes to the fire department would also require changes in employee culture. Metcalf noted that the fire service also has leaders who rise from the firefighting ranks and lack political skills.

In some cases an actual consolidation may be preferable. "There may be some benefit from consolidating or bringing two fire districts together," Metcalf said.

[The last merger of two independent (voter-elected) fire districts in San Diego County was when the East County Fire Protection District merged with the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District in 2008. The East County Fire Protection District had been created by the merger of the Crest and Bostonia districts while the San Miguel district was the successor to the Spring Valley and Grossmont-Mount Helix districts. In 1986, the Fallbrook Fire Protection District merged with CSA No. 7, which provided fire protection service to Rainbow, and added the Gavilan Mountain area to the agency which became the North County Fire Protection District after the merger.]

"There's such a thing as being too big," Metcalf said. "We need to make sure the issue of consolidation is not a magic bullet in itself."

Jurisdictional consolidation might reduce administrative expenses, but the number of firefighters and fire stations would ideally remain the same for the combined districts. "There's often little cost savings in field operations, which is where most of our expense is," Metcalf said.

The obstacles to consolidation aren't limited to communities' desires for local control. When Proposition 13, which reduced the property tax base rate to one percent, was passed in June 1978 that one percent was divided proportionally between those jurisdictions including fire protection districts which had been receiving separate components of the combined property tax, and NCFPD as the successor agency to the Fallbrook Fire Protection District receives some property tax money.

Fire districts formed after 1978 do not receive any of that base tax; the Valley Center Fire Protection District was formed in 1982 and its revenue is one-tenth of NCFPD's. "In California we have a problem with how property taxes are allocated, and it is a significant obstacle to consolidation," Metcalf said.

Consolidation also requires common workforce and labor standards. "It is complicated to do these consolidations," Metcalf said.

Most consolidations also require the added expense of hiring consultants and utilizing legal counsel.

Metcalf also noted that nationwide some consolidations have been reversed. "We're seeing now more divorces around the country than marriages," he said.

Shared services without jurisdictional consolidation can include sharing fire chiefs – the SDCRFA fire chief is the Cal Fire unit chief and at one time the independent Lakeside and Alpine districts shared a fire chief – and can also include shared training functions and vehicle maintenance.

When Metcalf joined the North County Fire Protection District 12 years ago, NCFPD provided maintenance for 12 other fire departments. NCFPD is also part of the North County Dispatch Joint Powers Authority which also includes the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District and six city fire departments. San Diego Medical Enterprises is a private-public partnership providing emergency medical services.

Elsewhere in the state, the Truckee Fire Protection District and Cal Fire share a station while the City of Grass Valley fire department and the Nevada County Fire Protection District share both a station and staffing.

The Heartland Fire Department – which is separate from the Heartland dispatch and Heartland training collaborations as well as from East County's automatic aid agreement – is a joint powers authority which combined the fire chief and other administrative personnel of the La Mesa, El Cajon, and Lemon Grove fire departments; the actual firefighters are still employees of their respective cities which are also still responsible for fire stations.

County Service Area No. 17 provides paramedic service to Solana Beach, Del Mar, and Encinitas as well as to Rancho Santa Fe and a portion of Elfin Forest.