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South Placer Fire District Making a Difference
SPFD is featured in the March 2025 issue of The Granite Bay Local
South Placer Fire District Station 19 Reopens in Limited Capacity
Response times for ambulance service will improve along Auburn Folsom Road
Placer County, Calif., March 3, 2025 – In August 2022, the District made the difficult decision to close Stations 15 and 19 due to funding concerns. Some of those personnel were relocated to a previously closed Station 16 under the new deployment model.
Staffing at Stations 15 and 19 had been upgraded to three-person staffing in 2017, predominantly funded by a grant that expired in 2020. The District carried these extra positions through general fund expenditures for two years without additional revenue. Inflation, rapidly escalating operational costs, and increased state-mandated policies, regulations, and safety standards forced the District into deficit spending to continue to support this operational standard.
In June 2022, voters were asked to pass an increase in the form of a Prop 218 benefit assessment to help support the District and the positions so stations could remain open with these staffing standards. The Prop 218 benefit assessment did not reach the threshold required to pass. Therefore, due to a lack of funding, the District had to change its deployment model, resulting in the closure of two stations.
Two Years Later:
“Station 19 will be reopening in March 2025 in a limited capacity with an ambulance. While not ideal, we are excited to be able to improve our service to the community for our most common types of emergencies – medical aids,” said South Placer Fire District Chief Mark Duerr. “Our job is to protect our community with the fastest response times possible. Due to a continued long-term funding deficit, we cannot restore full staffing to these stations now, meaning we will not operate a fire engine out of Station 19. Still, we have evaluated our community needs and found that moving one of our existing ambulances to Station 19 and increasing our staffing by one firefighter position at Station 20 will reduce our first unit on-scene time for medical aid to the areas we respond to most. We can support this new plan by realizing cost savings in operations, personnel, and management, allowing us to reopen this way. At the same time, we continue to search for permanent funding solutions.”
Q. What does this mean for the community?
A. This means that Station 19 will “open” by moving an existing ambulance from Station 20 to Station 19. This will improve our first unit’s on-scene response time to the areas along Auburn Folsom Road and move our ambulance closer to the areas with the highest concentration of calls for this resource. We will also add an additional firefighter to Station 20 to ensure adequate staffing (three people) for incidents in the far end of our district.
Q. What is the difference between a fully staffed station and a station with limited capacity?
A. A fully staffed station would typically have three personnel responding on a fire engine and be able to address all emergencies, including fires, medical, rescue, and public service requests. This limited capacity staffing means only two personnel responding on an ambulance, primarily focusing on medical issues and public assistance. They do not have the resources to extinguish a fire; however, they will be sent to fire calls to supplement fire suppression operations with additional personnel, but understand that if they show up first to a fire, their actions will be severely limited.
Q. If the District is in a funding deficit, and voters did not pass the Prop 218 benefit assessment, how is the District able to open the station?
A. This is possible due to several factors:
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- The District is increasing our apprentice program by one additional apprentice daily. This person will staff the ambulance on Medic 19, the same way Medic 16 is staffed today. This is a cost-effective way to free up one of the two firefighter paramedics currently on Medic 20 and move them to Engine 20 to increase the engine staffing to three personnel daily.
- The District has worked tirelessly to reduce expenditures and increase revenue to maximize our financial position. Where the District can cut and save, we have done so, including better management of long-term obligations and expenses and tighter spending controls. Still, we have also sought out ways to increase revenue outside of increasing taxes to include nearly $1 million in grants, increased ambulance revenue of over 45%, and the creation of a community facility district that will provide additional revenue to the District to address the increasing fire service demand due to new development.
Q. Where is the station located?
A. Station 19 is located at 7070 Auburn Folsom Rd., Granite Bay, CA 95746
If you have questions, you can call the District at 916-791-7059, visit our website, or email us at pio@southplacerfire.org
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Voter Attitudes Toward The South Placer Fire District
Key Findings of a Districtwide Survey Conducted April 10-16, 2024