CITY OF MENIFEE
SUBJECT: Fire Services Review
MEETING DATE: September 17, 2025
TO: Mayor and City Council
PREPARED BY: Jennifer Jackson, Sr. Management Analyst
REVIEWED BY: Bryan Jones, Assistant City Manager
APPROVED BY: Armando G. Villa, City Manager
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RECOMMENDED ACTION
1. Review and discuss the City of Menifee’s fire protection, fire prevention, rescue and emergency medical services provided by Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE through a Cooperative Agreement.
DISCUSSION
In response to a future agenda item request from the City Council on April 2, 2025, a review of City Fire Services has been prepared for discussion.
Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE Agreement
Since 1946, Riverside County Fire Department has partnered with CAL FIRE for fire protection, advanced life support, technical rescue, and hazardous materials response services. Upon incorporation in 2008, the City of Menifee contracted with Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE through a Cooperative Agreement (Agreement) which was renewed on July 1, 2024, and extends through June 30, 2027.
The Agreement provides fire protection services, fire prevention, fire marshal services, rescue, and medical emergency services. Under the terms of the Agreement, both the City of Menifee and Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE are responsible for providing the resources necessary to achieve the required fire service delivery needs.
While Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE provides the personnel and equipment, and maintains the City-owned four fire engines, the City owns and maintains the fire stations, fire inspection vehicles, both the medic squad and patrol squad vehicles, as well as the ladder truck used to support fire service operations within the City. This includes four existing fire stations with a fifth station planned for the northeastern portion of the city, Heritage Lake Station #74 (land has been acquired, construction funding secured, and engine ordered). This allows the City to
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maintain control over its fire service infrastructure while benefiting from the County’s operational capabilities and resources. The comprehensive fire protection provided to the City leverages Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE’s expertise, resources and established regional system. This includes access to regional assets and specialty units operated by both Riverside County Fire Department and CAL FIRE such as the urban search and rescue unit, hazmat team, and arson investigators, as well as state and regional resources available for disaster assistance such as excavator rescue/debris removal, bulldozers, hand crews, and fixed wing and helicopter air support. In addition, medical transport is contracted through the Riverside County Emergency Management Department with a franchise agreement with American Medical Response (AMR).
Riverside Emergency Management Service Agency (REMSA) directly administers this contract.
The City’s four fire stations are staffed by 59 firefighters (21 daily). Fire personnel provide around- the-clock emergency response for a wide range of incidents, including fires, medical aid, hazardous materials, rescue, and public assistance. The department consistently achieves its goal of maintaining a less than 5-minute average emergency response 90 percent of the time (with less than 4.5-minute average emergency response times reported for the first and second quarters of the 2025 calendar year).
The following graph highlights the correlation between Menifee’s population growth and the City’s emergency call volume over the past five fiscal years (2020/21 – 2024/25). The City experienced a steady increase in population throughout this period, growing from 105,773 in FY 2020/21 to 125,547 by fiscal year (FY) 2024/25 (Derrigo Demographic Marketing Report, 2025). Concurrent to the City’s steady population growth, there was a continuous rise in the number of calls for service. Overall, during the five-year period, the population increased by approximately 19 percent while service call volume increased by 20 percent.
GRAPH 1 - CALLS FOR SERVICE
FY 20/21 FY 21/22 FY 22/23 FY 23/24 FY 24/25
Calls for Service 11,951 13,149 13,578 13,666 14,367
Population 105,773 111,061 116,472 119,127 125,547
0 2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
95,000
100,000
105,000
110,000
115,000
120,000
125,000
130,000
Riverside County Fire/CAL FIRE
Calls for Service within the City of Menifee
Service call volume
Population
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Driven by a growing population and corresponding increase in calls for service, the City has increased personnel and made significant investments in fire station infrastructure improvements and equipment since its incorporation in 2008, when it took ownership of the four fire stations from Riverside County. These investments include:
2018 – Replacement of Station #7 (previous Station #7 dedicated in 1972) 2021 – Acquisition of new ladder truck
2022 – Addition of a second medic squad vehicle at Station #7 2023 – Addition of new medic patrol truck at Station #7; Station #68 Interior Improvements Phase I (bathroom remodel, bedroom expansion to accommodate additional personnel, ADA improvements)
2024 – Replacement of Station #5 (previous Station #5 built in 1960s) 2025 – Improvements to Station #76 are underway (enhancements to kitchen and living area to accommodate additional personnel), with completion expected late 2025/early 2026; Station #68 Interior Improvements Phase II (living area, kitchen & offices remodel) has entered the design phase, with construction expected to begin September 2026 The pie chart in Graph 2 illustrates the Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE calls for service by incident type for FY 2024/25. Medical incidents constitute the vast majority of calls, accounting for 84 percent of the total (12,128 calls). Fire and public service assist calls each account for seven percent, while hazard and other/miscellaneous calls each represent one percent. HazMat incidents are the least frequent at less than one percent (20 calls), out of a total 14,367 calls for the year.
GRAPH 2 - CALLS FOR SERVICE BY INCIDENT TYPE
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Riverside County Fire Department also provides for fire prevention services through the Office of the Fire Marshal. This includes inspections, enforcement, plan reviews, and permitting, and investigations. In addition to the Deputy Fire Marshal, staffing includes one Fire Safety Supervisor, two Fire Safety Specialists, and two Fire Systems Inspectors. Under the terms of the agreement, the City provides all direct operating supplies to support the Fire Marshal’s Office, including vehicles and maintenance, training, office space, cell phones/computers, and uniform costs. The City also employs a Fire Permit Technician to support Fire Marshal Office operations. The office of the Fire Chief, EMS Specialist, and Executive Assistant II are also located in City Hall. In FY 2024/25, the Fire Marshal’s office processed 2,237 permit applications, conducted 4,482 inspections, completed 949 plan reviews and 269 planning case reviews.
The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Specialist manages the City’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training and the Menifee LifeSavers collection of public education classes including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), automated external defibrillator (AED) use, Basic First Aid, and Stop the Bleed. In FY 2024/25, three CERT Basic Academies were hosted with 57 participants, and 141 Life Savers courses were provided. The individual Life Savers courses held throughout the fiscal year included CPR and AED training with 420 participants, First Aid training with 265 participants, the Stop The Bleed course with 103 participants and Basic Life Support (BLS) training with 55 participants.
Cost of Service
The annual cost of service under the Agreement reflects the essential resources required to maintain the current level of fire services. The budget reflects all operating costs such as salaries and benefits for personnel, equipment maintenance and replacement, training and support services as stipulated in the Agreement.
The services provided by the Fire Marshal’s Office are a separate function from fire suppression operations and are provided solely within the city limits through the Office of the Fire Marshal (Agreement Exhibit “D”).
The following graphic illustrates the complete fire services budget and population trends across five fiscal years, extending from FY 2020/21 to FY 2024/25. While cost estimates established in the budget are based on the top-step for all authorized personnel, the City is only charged for the actual cost of service. The graph below shows the budget compared to actual cost of fire services for the five-year period extending from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2025.
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GRAPH 3 - BUDGET VERSUS ACUTAL EXPENDITURES
Aid Agreements
Cooperative aid agreements exist between Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE and nineteen cities and one community service district in the County. These financial agreements provide for regional integrated fire services and allow for a single command center to dispatch the closest resources to emergencies regardless of jurisdiction. Additionally, Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE has automatic aid agreements with every city in the County not contracted with Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE (e.g., Murrieta, Canyon Lake, Riverside, Corona). Each agreement has a section that defines what type of response will be automatic aid or mutual aid. All fire resources within Riverside County Fire Department jurisdiction, which includes City, County and State resources, are considered one department. Riverside County Fire Emergency Dispatch Center (ECC) dispatches the closest available, appropriate resource to emergencies.
Automatic aid agreements ensure that the closest available fire unit, regardless of its agency of origin, is automatically dispatched to an incident. This maximizes efficiency and minimizes response times. Automatic aid agreements effectively drop jurisdictional boundaries for initial response, providing seamless service delivery without delays. This is crucial for incidents like vehicle accidents on major highways where the exact location is initially unclear.
The downside of both the cooperative and automatic aid models occurs when member or partner agencies do not proactively plan for and invest in fire service infrastructure, equipment, and staffing required to support the growth and development occurring in their jurisdictions. This leaves these agencies inadequately prepared for their specific geographic demands, types of
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calls, desired response times and need for services; however, they receive the same level of service and rapid response as the proactive partner agencies. When agencies are not held to the same standard of investment, especially over a significant period of time, the proactive partner agencies end up bearing a disproportionate share of the cost burden with their resources unreasonably strained. The City of Menifee is currently experiencing the negative consequences of this disparity.
By contrast, mutual aid agreements allow Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE to request assistance from non-contracted agencies to provide aid for larger incidents or when resources are strained or depleted, such as wildfires, large structure fires, or mass-casualty incidents. It is not automatic in that contact must be initiated from one command center to another, and aid must be requested and authorized before assistance is provided. Typical provisions of mutual aid agreements state that no agency is required to unreasonably deplete its own resources to assist another and provides that the incident command system (ICS) is to be used to establish a unified command structure that respects each participating agency’s chain of command while allowing for seamless coordination. Terms for reimbursement vary. Mutual aid is not the same as automatic aid in that it is not intended to be routinely used for first response or closest response.
It is in accordance with these existing agreements Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE regularly provides assistance outside the City’s jurisdictional boundaries and similarly receives assistance from surrounding fire agencies. The following chart represents assistance given and received for FY 2023/24 and 2024/25.
GRAPH 3 - REGIONAL ASSISTANCE GIVEN AND RECEIVED
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Assessing Future Needs
Since incorporation, the City has invested significantly in expanding fire services to keep pace with growth. This includes improving facilities, acquiring equipment, and increasing personnel to strengthen fire suppression, community risk reduction, Fire Marshal services, and prevention efforts. With continued new development and an increasing demand for service, Menifee has been proactive in planning for and regularly evaluating and investing in the City’s fire services.
Adherence to the established Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE service delivery objectives will also continue to drive the need for future expansion of fire services in the City of Menifee:
Maintaining an average emergency response time of 5 minutes or less, achieved 90 percent of the time.
Proactively engaging in community risk reduction through fire prevention and risk assessment.
Providing “zero-minute” response for life safety through community engagement programs.
Fire Services Models
As growth occurs within Menifee and surrounding agencies it is a good practice to continue to regularly assess fire service needs and manage costs and expectations considered in combination with the needs and demands of our Menifee residents and businesses while balancing the need for local control and regional cooperation in the use of resources. As part of this continued evaluation, there are several fire service delivery models that could be considered.
The Agreement with Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE expires June 30, 2027. Under the existing Agreement, the following option may be considered:
Continue conversations and negotiations with the County of Riverside, the Riverside County Fire Department and CAL FIRE regarding the disproportionate level of fire services provided by the City of Menifee to neighboring communities and ways to spread contract costs more equitably between jurisdictions.
It should be noted that Riverside County Fire has contracted with Citygate Associates to complete a 2025 Standards of Cover and Community Risk Assessment of the fire department. This new document will include information, data and improvements needed. This information will be obtained through all 19 city partners both staff and elected, the County, and citizen groups. The goal of the new Standards of Cover is to create a pathway for the department to follow.
As an alternative to the continuation of contracted services, additional fire service options may be considered including:
Establishment of a Municipal Fire Department. Example: Cities of Riverside, Corona, and Murrieta.
Formation of a Fire Protection District - Fire Districts are funded by property taxes and governed by an elected Board of Directors. Formation of a Fire District would require Riverside Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO) and property owner approval.
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Example: Apple Valley Fire Protection District (206 sq mi, including Town of Apple Valley & surrounding unincorporated areas of San Bernardino County), San Bernardino County Fire Protection District (20,160 square miles extending from Los Angeles County to the Colorado River on the east and the Nevada State line to the north), North County Fire Protection District (88 sq mi, including Fallbrook, Rainbow and other surrounding unincorporated areas of San Diego County).
Formation of a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) Fire Agency - A JPA is formed by two or more public agencies to jointly exercise a common power, with or without creating a separate legal entity. The agencies negotiate, draft and adopt a Joint Powers Agreement, which is then filed with LAFCO and the California Controller’s Office. The JPA is governed by representatives from each member agency serving on a Board of Directors. Example:
Heartland Fire Rescue JPA (Cities of El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove in San Diego County).
This report is presented for discussion purposes. Consideration of any of the identified service models outside of the existing agreement with Riverside County Fire Department/CAL FIRE would require further review and analysis and represent a significant work effort.
STRATEGIC PLAN OBJECTIVE
Safe and Vibrant Community
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with the recommended action.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Cooperative Agreement with County of Riverside to Provide Fire Services
2. Fire Station Personnel and Resources Map
3. Fire Station Location Map
4. FY 2023/24 - 2024/25 Jurisdiction Assistance Given and Received Graphs