Placer approves $12.1M contract with CAL FIRE for fire, emergency services

Published on September 05, 2017

The Placer County Board of Supervisors today approved a $12.1 million contract with CAL FIRE to provide fire and emergency services for the county’s 2017-18 fiscal year. Fire protection in Placer County is provided by 17 independent fire districts and by the county through its contract with CAL FIRE.

This year’s contract is an increase of $1.5 million, about 14 percent, due to a labor rate increase negotiated in CAL FIRE’s state labor agreement.

“We are still well within fire season, and our partnership with CAL FIRE is more critical than ever with fire danger this year being especially high,” said John McEldowney, Placer County emergency services manager.

The CAL FIRE contract pays for 60 firefighters at eight, 24/7 fire stations, located in Alta, Colfax, Bowman, North Auburn, Ophir, Lincoln, Dry Creek and the Sunset Area in western Placer. The Placer County Fire service area covers 475 square miles of unincorporated Placer County - nearly a third of the county - home to nearly 52,000 residents.

The Placer County Fire system also provides overhead funding that supports all paid and volunteer stations in the county.

In a separate item, the board also approved the purchase of wildland firefighting equipment for $156,703, with half of that cost paid by Volunteer Fire Assistance Program grants from the U.S. Forest Service.