Ceres approves contract with Modesto for fire services. What that means for residents
The Ceres City Council on Monday approved contracting Modesto for fire services instead of following a plan to increase funding for its understaffed traditional fire department.
Voting 3-1 after nearly three hours of discussion with residents and firefighters, the majority said the contract makes Ceres residents safer with better services available faster at a lower cost.
Council Member Linda Ryno voted against the five-year contract, which next needs approval from the Modesto City Council. Modesto would hire Ceres firefighters and Ceres would continue to own its fire trucks and stations under the agreement.
Ryno raised concerns that the council heard of a sustainable staffing plan that takes four years to complete for the first time last month. The city may have been able to start the plan earlier, Ryno said. She also questioned why staff did not tell the council about delayed ambulance response times until Monday.
Ceres residents regularly wait 15 to 30 minutes for an ambulance, said Acting Capt. Jeremy Hackett, who is also the president of the Ceres firefighters union.
“I think finding out these things this late in the game and ‘let’s just jump into regionalization is really not what we owe our community,” Ryno said. “I think we owe our community the opportunity, now that we know we have the other plan, that we look at a four- or five-year plan and strengthen our fire department.”
But contracting with Modesto allows the firefighters in Ceres to put a paramedic on an engine company as soon as the agreement begins, Hackett said. Ceres lacks an Advanced Life Support (ALS) firefighter company. If the city chose to continue with a traditional fire department, developing and starting an ALS program would take a year, per a council agenda report.
“Unfortunately, right now we have qualified paramedics that must idly sit by and sometimes watch as patients get worse on scenes because we do not have the medications needed due to us not being advanced life support,” Hackett said. “This is not in our nature. A paramedic would be utilized every day, multiple times a day (under the contract).”
Modesto Fire Chief responds to Ceres concerns
Multiple Ceres residents also raised concerns over a loss of identity and longer firefighter response times because of the contract. Modesto Fire Chief Alan Ernst said response times will instead decrease, noting how the agreement adds three new fire positions in Ceres. He further called the contract a partnership and referred to an advisory committee required by the contract.
An advisory committee made up of the Ceres and Modesto city managers, two Ceres council members and Ernst would meet at least twice a year to give input on the fire services. A Modesto Fire administrator would also be available to participate in all of Ceres’s council and department head meetings, Ernst said.
“This is not a takeover,” Ernst said. “This is not disbanding any fire agency. We truly come in and partner with the city of Ceres, much like we have with the city of Oakdale and the Oakdale Fire Protection District.”
The contract also does not allow Modesto to move fire equipment out of Ceres, Ernst said, and Ceres Fire logos will remain on trucks. The Ceres agreement also benefits Modesto and Oakdale, Ernst said. The regionalized system as a whole gains more staffing, plus potential savings if staff find more ways to be efficient with combined resources, Ernst said.
With the recommended contract option, Ceres can save an average of $234,000 annually for five years compared to the plan to boost the traditional city fire department. Council Members Bret Silveira said aiming to spend more on the understaffed traditional agency is unrealistic.
Silveira highlighted an urgent need for a fire prevention inspector added through the contract. In the traditional alternative, Ceres would not be able to add an inspector until the fourth year of the plan.
“We face huge liabilities every single day and have for years with our lack of inspections on buildings, businesses and everything,” Silveira said. “All that takes is one person to get hurt in a building or facility that we’re supposed to be inspecting, and we’re gonna write checks to those people that get hurt in those situations when they find out we haven’t had an inspection for that building for 10 years.”
Modesto could begin providing all fire protection services for Ceres as soon as August, Interim Ceres Fire Chief Michael Botto previously told The Bee. Ceres also needs to adopt a revised budget once the start date is set. One-time costs for the transition to the contract include paying for accrued vacation for Ceres firefighters because they will end their employment with the city, Botto said.
This story was originally published June 15, 2021 at 2:18 PM.
