Ripon Fire District seeking to fill much needed staff through Proposition 218
RIPON -- The Ripon Fire District has been plagued with staffing shortages for over a decade. The district covers about 55 square miles with only five firefighters on staff.
"There's a fire engine sitting in there ready to go. We just need the personnel to staff it," Ripon Fire District Chief Eric DeHart said.
They only have one ambulance and one engine fully staffed. The chief says that's not enough.
"I haven't had any issues with response times, but I know a lot of local people have," Ripon Resident Crystal Brown said. "That's just because they don't have the manpower to do it and have to call in for backup."
Last year, Ripon received 986 concurrent calls. That means two or more calls are coming in at once.
For a fire district that already struggles with staffing, having to divide minimal resources is a hardship the chief is pushing to change with Proposition 218.
"The engineer's report is going to spell out for each property owner how much their parcel is going to be assessed," Chief DeHart explained. "Then on that ballot, the voters will have the opportunity to either accept it or deny it."
Chief DeHart says they're not asking for much, just the ability to staff another engine that they already own. The problem has been getting voters on board.
"I do know there are some people in town that really want to get the second fire department staffed, and they've had issues with passing that," Ripon Resident Andrea Granillo shared. "There is quite a few people that really want that to get passed."
Ripon sometimes has to call in for backup from neighboring fire departments like Manteca Fire. In some of these cases, this can increase response times from five minutes to 15 minutes.
"Upon request, we can always go help another city, another district, another area. The Automatic Aid Agreements just makes it more automatic so that when it comes in through dispatch, we can not waste time requesting it, and we just automatically get sent," Manteca Fire Department Battalion Chief Sterrie McLeod explained. "We'll make arrangements to either backfill stations, to move up stations, and those are processes are already in place, so we're never really leaving an area unprotected for too long."
The Ripon Fire District is hoping for change and more resources for the entire community.
"It's not where we want to be, and this will be our fourth attempt to ask the voters if this level of service is adequate for them, or if they would like to enhance it," Chief DeHart said.
The district has a fire station that was built in 2014, which is still sitting empty but ready to serve.
They built that station with a one-time-use grant that wasn't able to be applied to hiring any additional crew or for salaries. The chief says he's thankful it's there because if it were to be built now, it would cost millions more dollars than it did 12 years ago.
Ballots will be sent out in late May or early June, with votes being counted on Aug. 13.
