TO: PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE,
AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT
COMMITTEE
FROM: Robert Sapien Jr.
SUBJECT: Fire Department Operations
Annual Report
DATE: September 24, 2026
Approved Date: October 6, 2026
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the annual report on Fire Department call volumes and emergency response time performance metrics.
BACKGROUND
As specified in the Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee (Committee) Work Plan, the Fire Department (Department) is to provide a consolidated annual report on emergency response time performance, progress on the implementation of response time improvement strategies detailed in the Fire Department Response Time Work Plan1, and an overview of annual call volume activity.
The Committee accepted the Department’s prior annual operations report in April 20262.
This report provides a comprehensive assessment of operational performance using Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-2026 data, compares it with historical data, highlights emerging trends, and updates the Committee on action items.
The Department is a high-volume, all-hazards fire department that provides fire suppression and rescue services, Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support services, and specialized operations resources, including Urban Search and Rescue, Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting, and a Hazardous Incident Team. The Department’s current resource deployment includes 34 operational fire stations, minimum daily 1 https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11327280&GUID=B653071D-BFD3-42D4-AEFD4807D0BBC311 2 https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15377390&GUID=0DD509E7-077E-443F-AA50- 756703AB472A
COMMITTEE AGENDA: 10/15/26
ITEM: (d)3.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
staffing of 190 personnel, 34 Engine companies, nine Truck companies, three Rescue Medic units, and six on-duty command officers (Battalion Chiefs). The Department protects 208.17 square miles, including 181.36 square miles within City limits and 26.81 square miles of unincorporated Santa Clara County (County) by contract.
The 2026 Annual Operations Report referenced data collected from FY 2024-2025 and documented a 33.2% increase in emergency incident call volume over a 10-year period, from 83,632 calls in FY 2014-2015 to 111,373 calls in FY 2024-2025. Compared to FY 2024-2025, total call volume slightly decreased in FY 2025-2026 to 109,767 incidents.
However, demand remains well above historic levels, challenging the Department’s ability to meet response-time performance standards and maintain balanced emergency response coverage across the City.
On June 7, 2016, the City Council received the San José Fire Department Strategic Business Plan along with the San José Fire Department Organization Review, which included Standards of Response Coverage analysis3. That analysis found that the Department’s deployment system did not meet City Council-adopted response times and best practices across all city neighborhoods. It concluded that achieving the adopted City goals would require additional resources.
Consistent with that conclusion, the City Council advanced the Disaster Preparedness, Public Safety, and Infrastructure Bond measure to the November 6, 2018, ballot. Voters approved the $650 million general obligation bond measure (Measure T), which included construction of Fire Station 37; upgrades and rebuilding of existing infrastructure such as Fire Stations 8 and 23; and new fire station projects, including Stations 32 and 36, all intended to improve emergency response times.
At the June 18, 2019, City Council meeting, the Department’s Measure T – New Fire Station Placement Prioritization4 recommendations were accepted, initiating construction of new fire stations and replacement projects. The prior annual report identified Fire Station 37, Fire Station 8, and the landside bay addition at Fire Station 20 as completed Measure T projects.
Measure T-funded relocation of existing fire stations and construction of new fire stations, along with ongoing strategies to improve response times and resource availability, are intended to improve emergency response times and increase service delivery capacity. However, continued demand for emergency calls remains a significant operational pressure on Department resources.
In 2014, the Department completed internal response times data analysis and initiated its Response Time Work Plan which included multiple initiatives to address data 3 https://sanjose.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=&event_id=2139&meta_id=576986 4 https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=7296426&GUID=8097B35E-F3AA-441B-A951- 9B6135862F50
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
deficiencies, technology upgrades, and improve operational efficiency. Response Time Work Plan progress updates are provided later on in this memorandum.
ANALYSIS
Emergency Incident Volume
In FY 2025-2026, the Department responded to 109,767 incidents, a slight decrease of approximately 1.4% from the 111,373 incidents reported in FY 2024-2025. Across the five fiscal years shown in Table 1, incident volume increased approximately 6.4% to 109,767 incidents in FY 2025-2026, from 103,145 incidents in FY 2021-2022.
Table 1: Annual Incident Volume
2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 2025-2026
Total
Incidents 103,145 109,143 110,255 111,373 109,767
Fire Department Emergency Call Volume vs. Population
Chart 1 provides a comparison of Department call volume compared to the City’s population. As indicated during the five-year timeframe in Table 1 above, the Department saw an approximate 6.4% incident increase. During the same timeframe, the City’s population increased approximately 0.3% from 976,482 to 979,415. The data shows that emergency incident demand grew materially faster than the population.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Chart 1: 5-Year Call Volume versus City Population
Call Volume and Late Response Mapping
Higher incident volume increases the frequency with which first-due resources are unavailable for additional calls in their first-due response area. When second- or thirddue resources are dispatched, additional travel distance increases response times.
During peak call-volume periods and large-scale incidents requiring multiple units, reduced system capacity degrades response time performance. The FY 2025-2026 heat maps (Figures 1 and 2) further illustrate the relationship among incident concentration, resource drawdown, and late responses.
High call volume concentrated in the Downtown area of San José negatively affects response time performance by reducing first-due resource availability and increasing the likelihood that second- or third-due companies must travel from more distant fire stations.
103,145
109,143
110,254
111,373
109,767
920,000
940,000
960,000
980,000
1,000,000
1,020,000
98,000
100,000
102,000
104,000
106,000
108,000
110,000
112,000
2021 - 2022 2022 - 2023 2023 - 2024 2024 - 2025 2025 - 2026 Population
Call Volume
Fiscal Year
Call Volume Population
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Figure 1 displays FY 2025-2026 incident density and call volume concentration.
Figure 1: FY 2025-2026 Call Volume Heat Map
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Figure 2 displays the concentration of late responses, defined as travel times greater than four minutes. It illustrates how resource drawdown, occurring when units are committed to active incidents and unable to respond to additional calls in their first-due response area, affects response time performance for the entire Department.
Figure 2: FY 2025-2026 Late Response Heat Map
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September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Call Volume Based on Battalion Response Areas
Generally, call volume intensity remains highest in the City’s Downtown area and lower at its perimeter. Battalion 1, centrally located in San José, recorded 26,487 incidents in FY 2025-2026, the highest among the six battalions. Concentrated demand in this area reduces first-due resource availability throughout the system. During peak resource demand periods, resources from other parts of the City must be drawn into high-incident areas.
Chart 2: FY 2025-2026 Call Volume by Battalion
26,487
18,546
16,411
14,229 13,348 12,826
0 5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
Battalion 1 Battalion 10 Battalion 2 Battalion 35 Battalion 13 Battalion 5 Call Volume
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Call Volume Based on Fire Station Response Areas
Fire stations throughout San José provide emergency response coverage; however, population density and service demand vary across fire station response areas.
Chart 3 shows call volume by fire station response area and battalion. The call volumes shown below reflect individual emergency incidents but do not represent the number of resources deployed or the total operational workload requirement. For example, a medical incident may require a single Advanced Life Support unit response and last a relatively short duration, while a multiple-alarm fire requires numerous unit responses and lasts for hours.
Fire Station 26 remained the highest-volume station response area citywide, with 5,701 incidents in FY 2025-2026. Other high-volume fire station response areas included Fire Station 1 (5,390 incidents), Fire Station 3 (5,221 incidents), Fire Station 2 (5,056 incidents), and Fire Station 4 (4,808 incidents).
The Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa Clara County (LAFCO) County Fire Service Review of October 20235 offered the following regarding Department resource utilization levels:
Unit Hour Utilization (UHU) is a metric that measures the time a firefighting unit is actively engaged in responding to emergency incidents. It calculates the percentage of time that a unit is committed to handling emergencies out of its total available time during a specified period.
If a primary station response unit is committed to emergency incidents for more than 10% of the time, it is spending a significant portion of its available time responding to emergencies. This creates challenges in meeting response times because the unit is unavailable for immediate response. As a result, they might not be able to respond quickly enough to subsequent emergencies within their primary response area (first due area) because they are already engaged in another incident.
The Department appears excessively busy, with 28 units, including engines, Rescue Medics, and the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) exceeding 10% of UHU. Four of these units exceed 20% of UHU. The City would need to add resources to that station or reduce call volume to meet response time standards. 5 https://santaclaralafco.org/cities-and-special-districts/service-reviews/third-round/countywide-fireservice-review#docaccess-ae4923fe26ebb3a19b764dc9d965b8a995aeff855675489e6b06dc27cb9c3b92
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Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Chart 3: FY 2025-2026 Call Volume by Fire Station Response Area 5,390 5,221
5,701
5,056
3,349
4,808
4,081 3,987
0 2,000
4,000
6,000
1 3 7 8 26 30 2 16 19 21 31 5 20 23 25 29 34 4 6 10 14 15 37 12 13 17 22 28 9 11 18 24 27 35 Battalion 1 Battalion 2 Battalion 5 Battalion 10 Battalion 13 Battalion 35
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Call Type Distribution
Chart 4 presents the call-type distribution for the 109,767 total incidents in FY 2025- 2026. The overall distribution remained similar to the prior year, with no major shift in call-type composition.
• Medical-only: 60.8% of total incidents
• Uncategorized: 13.3%
• Good Intent/Service calls: 9.7%
• No Incident/Wrong Location/Cancelled En Route: 5.9%
• Rescue/HazMat/USAR/Non-Fire Hazard: 5.5%
• Fires: 3.6%
• False Alarm/False Call: 1.2%
Chart 4: FY 2025-2026 Call Type Distribution
60.84%
13.28%
9.66%
5.92%
5.51%
3.56%1.23% Medical Only
Uncategorized
Good Intent Or Service
No incident, wrong location,
cancelled en-route
Rescue, Haz-Mat, USAR &
Non-Fire hazards
Fires
False Alarm / False Call
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September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Call Volume
Chart 5 highlights EMS incidents compared with all other call types. In FY 2025-2026, EMS call volume decreased moderately by about 2.5%, to 66,785 incidents, down from 68,492 in FY 2024-2025. Over the five-fiscal-year period, EMS call volume increased by approximately 4.4%, from 63,997 incidents in FY 2021-2022 to 66,785 in FY 2025-2026.
All other call types were essentially unchanged compared to last year, increasing to 42,982 incidents in FY 2025-2026 from 42,881 incidents in FY 2024-2025. In comparison to all other call types in the five-fiscal-year period, an increase of approximately 9.8% occurred, with 39,148 incidents in FY 2021-2022 to 42,982 incidents in FY 2025-2026.
Chart 5: 5-Year EMS Call Volume and All Other Call Types *Data shown in Chart 5 is directly sourced from the Department’s EMS Call Volume Power BI Dashboard. 63,997
68,412 68,410 68,492 66,785
39,148 40,731 41,845 42,881 42,982
0 20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
2021 - 2022 2022 - 2023 2023 - 2024 2024 - 2025 2025 - 2026 Call Volumne
Fiscal Year
Medical Emergencies All Other Call Types
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Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
SJFD and County-Wide Ambulance Call Volumes
Chart 6 demonstrates the comparison of Department call volumes with total county-wide ambulance call volumes.
From FY 2024-2025 to FY 2025-2026, County ambulance responses remained relatively stable, increasing by less than 0.5%, while Department EMS incidents decreased by approximately 2.5%.
County EMS ambulance responses increased approximately 7.1% from 133,354 responses in FY 2021-2022 to 142,845 responses in FY 2025-2026. Total Department call volume further increased by approximately 6.4%, and Department EMS call volume increased by approximately 4.4%.
Chart 6: 5-Year City Call Volume and County-wide Ambulance Call Volume 63,997 68,412 68,410 68,492 66,785
133,354 131,532
139,726 142,341 142,845
0 20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
2021 - 2022 2022 - 2023 2023 - 2024 2024 - 2025 2025 - 2026
CALL VOLUME
Fiscal Year
SJFD Call Volume SJFD EMS Call Volume County Ambulance EMS Response
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Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Aging Population
Chart 7 presents population projections from the California State Plan on Aging. Issued in 20216, the data projects a substantial growth in Santa Clara County’s older adult population. This includes an increase in residents aged 65 and older to 553,409 in 2030 compared to 277,700 in 2010 and an increase in residents age 85 and older to 51,772 from 28,039 over the same period. The plan notes that adults age 85 and older experience higher rates of severe chronic health conditions and functional limitations, increasing demand for health and supportive services.
Chart 7: EMS Patient Age Distribution
6 https://aging.ca.gov/download.ashx?lE0rcNUV0zbUy1iwYmWKng%3d%3d 325
1,144
2,174
4,011
5,982
5,531
7,069
9,373
9,940 9,677
4,534
3,198
0 1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
< 1 1-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 90-110 Unknown EMS Responses
Age Group
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
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Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Local Mutual Aid
Call volume continues to place pressure on resource availability within San José and throughout Santa Clara County. San José has historically provided local support through automatic aid and mutual aid agreements. Automatic aid is designed to dispatch the closest station to areas regardless of jurisdictional boundaries, within specified limits, and is generally reciprocal. In-county mutual aid is provided on an asneeded basis. As resource availability decreases during periods of high call volume or large incidents, providing backfill while supporting mutual aid can become increasingly challenging. The Department will continue to monitor these impacts and utilize mutual aid during significant incidents throughout San José.
Mutual Aid
The Department continues to actively participate in the California Fire Service and Rescue Emergency Mutual Aid System and supports the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Urban Search and Rescue Response System through California Task Force 3.
During FY 2025-2026, the Department continued to support state and national incidents through both apparatus and overhead deployments. Department personnel deployed support to incidents including the Dillon Fire, Gifford Fire, Green Fire, Peak Fire, Pickett Fire, Salt Fire, TCU Lightning Complex, flooding in Ruidoso, New Mexico, and in Washington State.
The Department recorded:
• Seven apparatus deployments, involving 28 apparatus crew assignments. • 21 overhead and Incident Command System deployment assignments, supporting functions including Display Processing, Documentation, Field Observation, Heavy Equipment, Medical, Radio Operations, Resources, Safety, and Strike Team leadership.
• Seven FEMA-related deployments, including one deployment in support of flooding in New Mexico and six California Task Force 3 personnel deployed in support of Washington flooding.
These deployments reflect the Department’s continued operational readiness and its role in supporting statewide and national emergency response systems.
Public Education and Safety
The prior annual report highlighted wildfire preparedness and community risk reduction efforts in high-risk Wildland-Urban Interface areas, including targeted outreach, multilingual educational materials, residential risk assessments, defensible-space and home-hardening education, and evacuation preparedness messaging. Supported by a FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety Grant, these efforts earned an Award of Distinction from
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
the California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO), recognizing the program as the second highest-rated marketing and communications plan statewide in 2025.
Fire Department Emergency Response Times and Metrics – City and County EMS Response Times
Department response times are measured against two performance measures: the City’s adopted performance measures and the performance measures in the 911 Emergency Medical Services Provider Agreement between the City and County.
City of San José: The City’s response time performance standard, as revised in 2000, is immediate response with lights and sirens and arrival on scene within eight minutes, 80% of the time for Priority 1 incidents. Incident response is composed of three primary segments: alarm processing time, turnout time, and travel time. The Priority 1 eightminute target has historically been described as two minutes for alarm processing, two minutes for turnout, and four minutes for travel time.
Priority 2 incidents require immediate emergency response without lights and sirens and arrival on scene within 13 minutes, 80% of the time.
Under the City standard, the time clock begins upon receipt of the 9-1-1 call and determination of the incident address. It stops upon arrival at the incident address.
County EMS Contract Provision: The 911 Emergency Medical Services Provider Agreement establishes response time requirements for emergency vehicle response modes with and without red lights and sirens. Incidents are triaged using the Medical Priority Dispatch System. Lights-and-sirens EMS incidents require arrival on scene within eight minutes, 90% of the time for EMS calls in urban areas (County EMS Code 3 Standard). Lower-level EMS incidents require arrival on scene within 13 minutes, 90% of the time in urban areas. Under the County standard, the response-time clock begins upon dispatch and stops upon arrival at the incident address. The agreement includes allowable response time exceptions for specified circumstances, including areas outside the defined Exclusive Operating Area, designated hard-to-serve areas, and periods of unusual system pressure.
The Department has previously implemented multiple system improvements intended to reduce alarm processing time, including CAD-to-CAD connectivity, diversion of nonemergency calls to San José 3-1-1, off-hook answering technology, upgraded fire station alerting, RapidDeploy RadiusPlus integration, and Text-to-9-1-1 capability.
Turnout time is measured from the time a unit is notified of an incident until the unit initiates travel. Turnout includes personnel stopping current activities, moving to the emergency vehicle, donning appropriate personal protective equipment based on call type, mounting apparatus, and securing seat belts. The prior annual report notes
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Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
regarding shift-specific turnout performance data were shared with operational company staff and field supervisors to encourage enhanced team performance.
Travel time is affected by distance between fire stations, resource availability, traffic congestion, unit out-of-service time, and call volume. The Department has previously addressed travel-time challenges through Measure T fire station projects, Emergency Vehicle Preemption, strategies to reduce unit out-of-service time, and system improvements intended to support more efficient dispatch and resource deployment.
Travel time remains the Department’s primary challenge in meeting on-time response performance.
Measure T fire station projects, as listed above, are important elements of the Department’s system-performance strategy.
Response Time (City and County EMS)
Chart 8 represents City Priority 1 and County EMS Code 3 monthly response time performance for FY 2025– 2026.
The Department, with an average of 63% compliance, is approximately 17 percentage points below the City response standard of eight minutes, 80% of the time for Priority 1 calls. The Department, with an average of 85% compliance, is approximately five percentage points below the County EMS response standard of eight minutes, 90% of the time for Code 3 EMS calls. County EMS response time performance reflected in the supplied data is treated as unadjusted for allowable exceptions unless the final source data indicates otherwise.
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Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
Chart 8: FY 2025-2026 Response Time Performance
65% 64% 64% 63% 65% 63% 62% 63% 63% 63% 63% 62%
85% 86% 86% 84% 86% 84% 84% 85% 85% 86% 86% 85%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
City Priority 1 Compliance (80% Standard)
County EMS Code 3 Compliance (90% Standard)
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Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
The Department continues to advance system-performance strategies intended to improve response times and overall system sustainability. Table 2 carries forward the principal initiatives from the 2026 Annual Operations Report and provides progress updates for FY 2025-2026.
Table 2: Response Time Work Plan – FY 2025-2026 Update
Item Comments/ Updates
Ongoing Items:
2. Data Collection
3. Business Intelligence Tool
9. Response Area Mapping/ ESZ Refinement
10. Base Map Update
17. Resource Move-Ups
19. Navigation Technology
21. Deployment Refinements
Data collection to enhance response times
Dashboard Utilization
Ongoing refinement of ESZ assignments
Periodic updates to base map
Normal practice of reducing service gaps
Analysis of more effective technologies
Ongoing deployment strategy improvements
In Process Items:
14. CAD-to-CAD Dispatch Link Intended to enhance information exchange across City/County CAD systems, reduce
inter-center telephone calls, improve unitlocation awareness, and strengthen backup capability.
Implementation of a new CAD-to-CAD
interface between the City’s Octave CAD
system and Santa Clara County
Communications’ Octave CAD system is
anticipated in the first quarter of FY 2026-
2027. The new interface will enable the
exchange of updates after initial event
creation, a task previously done solely by
telephone. The interface is also built to allow
exchange of unit status information and
automated vehicle location information.
11. 9-1-1 Phone System Upgrade New system hardware installation was completed in June 2016, and system training
(Power MIS) was completed in September
2016. Installation of system monitoring
hardware in the control room was completed
in March 2018.
In FY 2026-2027, the phone system will be
upgraded with a Next Generation 9-1-1
capable system.
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Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
15. Border Drops Enhance auto-aid agreements to create
borderless response areas. This project is
dependent on CAD-to-CAD links and agency
agreements and may require county-wide
Geographic Information System (GIS)
coordination and Automated Vehicle
Location information.
16. Traffic Signal Preemption This item has been revisited to initiate a pilot implementing preemption for three Countycontrolled signal locations to improve response times.
18. Closest Unit Dispatch This item is intended to dispatch resources by apparatus proximity, rather than station
location. Prior work included cellular network
redundancy and GPS-location accuracy with
Hexagon (now Octave) CAD.
Preparation for closest unit dispatch requires
configuration of response plans within the
Octave CAD system. While the initial launch
was expected to be mid-2026, initial
response plan testing identified unexpected
challenges, requiring outreach to Octave for
assistance. The Department is coordinating
with Octave to review the results and
determine next steps. This functionality is
critical for implementation. The
implementation timeline is expected to be by
the fourth quarter of FY 2026-2027.
23. 9-1-1 Telemedicine-
Expand Omega Protocol
A standalone SJFD 9-1-1 telemedicine
program is not currently planned. Additional
information and evaluation are needed
before considering further implementation.
The Department participated in discussions
with County EMS about integrating Nurse
Navigator services within SJFD’s dispatch
center to better understand the Nurse
Navigator model, available implementation
options, and potential application impacts to
the 9-1-1 system.
The Department has implemented on scene
field referral to the County EMS Nurse
Navigator program, but there have been
limited opportunities for utilization to date.
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Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
The County EMS Agency has proposed
countywide implementation of Nurse
Navigator as a component of dispatch to all
county fire agencies. Service implications
are being evaluated by respective
jurisdictions.
24. Community Paramedicine The Department launched its initial Community Paramedicine pilot program on
October 1, 2026, establishing the Mobile
Care Unit. The goal of the pilot is to better
serve the community by providing
community paramedicine resources as an
alternative to traditional 9-1-1 prehospital
care response. It is intended to connect
certain patients with alternative care
pathways, reduce avoidable 9-1-1
transports, and preserve emergency
response resources for higher-acuity
incidents.
While the initial pilot program has launched,
Community Paramedicine activities requiring
State authorization, including Transport to
Alternate Destination, will not begin until
formal approval is received.
26. Fire Station 32 Enabled by Measure T, Fire Station 32 has reached substantial completion, with punch
list items and the vehicular gate remaining.
Temporary Certification of Occupancy is
expected in October 2026. It was built as a
two-company fire station with an engine and
a truck company. The FY 2026-2027
Operating Budget deferred Engine 32
staffing for two fiscal years and directed the
Department to pursue FEMA Staffing for
Adequate Fire and Emergency Response
grant opportunities to support opening Fire
Station 32 in FY 2027-2028.
The Department, in collaboration with CMO,
submitted a grant application for seven
Firefighter positions and is awaiting award
results.
27. Fire Station 36 Enabled by Measure T, Fire Station 36 has reached 90% completion of construction
documents with the architect. Cost estimates
were completed, with the estimate returning
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 24, 2026
Subject: Fire Department Operations Annual Report
within the allocated project construction
budget.
The project is tentatively scheduled to go out
for bid in February 2027 to select a
construction vendor. Project construction is
estimated to begin in summer 2027 with
substantial completion in winter 2028.
Completed Items:
6. Implement Early Dispatch
7. 9-1-1 Phone Systems Upgrade (2016)
11. EMS Quality Assurance Upgrade
12. Organizational Review
13. Turnout Time
20. Unit Availability
24. Station Alerting System
25. Response to County Jail and County
Facilities
All items are completed.
EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
The Department will return to the Committee in fall 2027 with its next Annual Fire Department Operations Report on call volumes and emergency response time performance metrics.
COORDINATION
This memorandum has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office and the City Manager’s Budget Office.
Robert Sapien, Jr.
Fire Chief, Fire Department
For questions, please contact Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief, at (408) 794-6952.