Fire districts to share more resources

Fire officials from Glen Ellen and Kenwood are looking for new ways to share resources, as the recruitment of volunteer firefighters becomes increasingly difficult.

The trustees of the Glen Ellen Fire Protection District and the Kenwood Fire Protection District for the first time ever had a joint meeting Tuesday and brainstormed for ways to increase efficiency through working together.

Glen Ellen Chief Matt Atkinson and Kenwood Chief Bill Shubin meet monthly with other fire districts in the area, Sonoma, Schell-Vista and Mayacamas, and decided to get the trustees in their respective districts together for a chat.

Shubin said the monthly zone meetings deal with operational matters among the districts, not consolidation. He said Kenwood changed its drill nights so their firefighters and Glen Ellen’s drill the same night.

Atkinson said the departments in the zone are using similar training methods. “We can share people for strike teams,” Atkinson said. “Glen Ellen doesn’t have a Type-1 engine, but Kenwood does and we can staff it jointly.”

The departments are trying to standardize where they store equipment on their respective engines so when there’s a melded crew, firefighters don’t have to hunt for equipment.

“We’re using the same sort of equipment and storing it in the same area,” Atkinson said.

Shubin said all the departments in the Valley will soon have four-inch hoses. “By working together,” he said. “We make sure we have efficiencies.”

The one area both departments share is the recruitment and retention of volunteers. Gone are the days when volunteers could just show up for a call. Now, volunteers have to have the same type of training that paid personnel have.

Chris Landry, a Glen Ellen battalion chief, said the state doesn’t differentiate between paid personnel or volunteers.

“Training is a huge commitment,” Atkinson said. “And it’s getting more difficult.”

Shubin said Kenwood is using a task book for volunteers who may not have the time to take training classes at Santa Rosa Junior College.

He said Kenwood is down from a high of 36 or so volunteers to 16 now.

Part of the problem is the number of homes that are purchased by people who only live there part time and aren’t around long enough to volunteer.

“Also, our workforce doesn’t live in town anymore,” Shubin added. And he said, eventually, departments are going to have to go to full-time personnel.

“We have to have safe communities,” he said.

Both districts are looking into what’s known as a “sleeper program,” where two people would spend nights at the firehouse and be ready to roll a lot sooner.

Atkinson said Glen Ellen has been talking about building a second story at the fire station to house the “sleeper program,” where they could get two students from SRJC to spend their nights at the station for what he called “a stipend.”

Shubin said Kenwood, too, was looking at the program and putting a couple of beds in a back room.

“Firefighter safety and citizen safety is our priority,” he added.

The boards didn’t set a date for the next meeting, but decided they’d meet quarterly instead of monthly.