Proudly Since 1873
City of Merced – Merced County
Stop Gap Aid Agreement
City of Merced Fire Department
Interim Fire Chief - Casey Wilson
McKee Fire Station Closure
• Merced County closure of Station 85 to consolidate staffing and meet the states mandated requirement of 2 personnel per apparatus. (Effective Jan. 1, 2025)
• Merced County staff request our assistance in providing fire coverage to County jurisdiction generally located North of Hwy 140, West of Kibby Road, West of N. Lake Road, and East of G Street via automatic aid agreement.
Proudly Since 1873
Fire and EMS Aid Agreement –
City of Merced Responsibility
• EMS response
• Initial response
• Incident stabilization
• Merced County would assume incident command
responsibly upon their arrival for fire incidents
• Merced County Fire would retain prevention and
investigation responsibility
• Collaborative approach – City does not have the
equipment to assume full responsibility of this area
Proudly Since 1873
Fire and EMS Aid Agreement
• Term: Jan. 2025 – Dec. 2027
• Automatic Aid Map
• Annual Fee for service $315,384
• 4% increase for 2026
• Term – Expiration to align with SAFER
staffing
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Fire and EMS Aid Agreement – Aid
Impacts
• Merced County Fire 2023 Data Indicates
417 calls for service in this area.
• 265 EMS
• 91 Other Fires
• 33 Public Assist*
• 12 Hazmat / Standby’s*
• 10 Structure Fires
• 6 Vegetation Fires
Proudly Since 1873
Cost & Benefit for the City of Merced
Proudly Since 1873
• Partnership approach for staffing of Squad 53 provides benefit for the City adding capacity for response in North Merced. • Engine 53 currently responds to 28% of all incident's city wide. • Engine 53 had 568 occurrences of overlapping incidents in 2023. • Squad 53 will also support additional calls for service generated by the recent annexation of UC Merced.
• Squad 53 provides a stop gap measure until station 56 can be constructed and staffed.
• Revenue can be invested into capital needs or technical infrastructure to support future emergency response
partnerships.
Staff Recommendation
A. Approve a stop gap aid agreement for fire services and emergency operations coordination between the city of
Merced and Merced County for the period of January 1,
2025 – December 31st, 2026; and,
B. Authorizing the City Manager or designee to execute the agreement; and,
C. Authorizing the Finance Officer to make the necessary budget adjustments; and,
D. Provide direction to staff to continue exploring long term options for automatic aid or other service options between the two agencies.
Proudly Since 1873