Fire Merger Pilot Program Gathers Steam

The  approved moving forward with a pilot program creating a shared temporary fire station and consolidating the administration of the  (CCFD)—which serves Burlingame and Hillsborough—with the Millbrae and San Bruno fire departments at its meeting Monday night.

Under the pilot program, a temporary station will be erected in Burlingame Hills between station 38 in Millbrae and station 35 in Burlingame. Both of these stations would be closed under the program but remain untouched in case needed for future use.

Burlingame has participated in two feasibility studies on the merge since 2007 and .

“All the reports have said that the potential for a merger exists,” said Central County Fire Chief Don Dornell. “There are savings to be realized.”

Under the plan, Burlingame would annually save $95,000 in administrative costs and $300,000 from station consolidation. Any savings would be initially offset by the $800,000 one-time cost associated with the temporary station, of which Burlingame would owe $240,000. However, the temporary station is expected to be paid for by the overtime costs saved through a consolidation of services.

As mentioned by Deputy Chief Mark Ladas during his presentation on the merger, all savings are preliminary.

“What we learned in the Burlingame/Hillsborough merge [is] we don’t want to be overly aggressive in what we can save…too soon,” he said. “[But likely] you’ll see the savings of this double.”

The favored location for the temporary station is a 3-acre parcel by Highway 280 off of Trousdale Drive. Unlike some of the other suggested locations, this station could remain permanently if the three departments underwent a full merge in the future.

In addition to the temporary station with one full-time engine, a flex engine would operate out of Millbrae’s station 37 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. when most of the calls come in.

The pilot program merges administration only; the departments maintain individual labor contracts and budgets, and the CCFD keeps its Fire Board. The Fire Board, as well as the Millbrae and San Bruno departments, would work under an Operational Oversight Committee composed of city managers, all under one fire chief.

The departments will begin sharing personnel by as early as Sept. 1, 2011 under the plan, with a set goal of Oct. 1. The temporary station will hopefully be built by July 1, 2012. Eight months later in March 2013, officials will analyze performance data from the station and begin drafting a Phase II plan, which will be decided on in May 2013.

If the temporary station proves successful, “then we move into Phase II, which would be the full merger,” said Ladas. “If we don’t meet the targets…then let’s go ahead and discontinue it.”

Under a full merge, an eight member Central County Fire Authority would be created, disbanding the CCFD board.

 “I want to salute fire again for being creative,” said Councilmember Michael Brownrigg. “I really appreciate the way you lean into doing what’s best for people and not worry about the name on the side of the engine.”

However, Brownrigg, along with some of his other colleagues, also had concerns. He said he worried about creating one union with four different cities paying the bills and the possibility of the merge falling through in the future.

Councilmember Ann Keighran also expressed concerns over financing, mentioning the vulnerable position Burlingame is left in if the fire safety tax the Millbrae department relies on fails to pass.

“I will go along with this only because it’s a pilot, but I do have a lot of reservation,” she said.

While Ladas said no one city in the agreement would subsidize another, Keighran said if Millbrae cuts back on service from its individual stations, it would rely more heavily on the shared station, therefore theoretically being subsidized by Burlingame.

While Councilmember Jerry Deal expressed some concern over future union contracts, he said for the present it made sense to move forward with the pilot program.

“It may be a great idea, it may not be a great idea; that’s what we’re trying to find out,” he said. “In the future we’re going to get something that’s going to work for everybody.”

Although Deputy Chief Ladas asked Councilmember Cathy Baylock to challenge any of his statements due to her voting against a merger in April, she remained the single dissenting vote against the plan.