Ross mulls future of run-down fire station

Feb. 8--The century-old Ross fire station is woefully outdated and likely needs to be rebuilt, according to town officials. But the Ross Town Council is questioning whether a major construction project for the facility, which would likely come with a multi-million dollar price tag, is worth the money.

Would it make more sense, town leaders wonder, for Ross to close its fire station?

Ross shares firefighting services with San Anselmo, Fairfax and Sleepy Hollow through the Ross Valley Fire Department. The department has four fire stations in its service area, with one station in each community it serves.

A recent study of the department's response times found that, in about 90% of cases, firefighters were on scene within seven minutes and 40 seconds after a 911 call came in from Ross. That's more than a minute faster than the average response time of eight minutes and 45 seconds for calls throughout the Ross Valley Fire Department's service territory.

But if Ross eliminated its fire station, located at 33 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., response times would increase by two minutes, up to nine minutes and 40 seconds, for 911 calls from the town, the study found.

"That's very helpful information," said Ross Town Manager Joe Chinn. "The public and decision-makers will have to weigh that."

Chinn estimates that replacing the fire station would cost upward of $12 million. That's a high price tag for a town with only 836 parcels in its jurisdiction, he told the Town Council last year.

"There is no right or wrong answer," Ross Valley fire Chief Jason Weber told the council. "We need to brainstorm it, we need to discuss it, and we need to weigh the high cost of a capital investment to this service level."

In the coming years, Ross will likely need to replace or renovate each of the buildings within the town's municipal headquarters complex, including Town Hall, the public works building and the shared police and fire building, according to Chinn. Each of those facilities, he said, is "physically and functionally obsolete, with significant deferred maintenance." He estimates the total cost of that project could reach $20 million. The fire station, the most expensive piece of the renovation, is the only facility that officials are considering eliminating from the complex to save on costs, Chinn said.

Ross has commissioned an architect to examine the three municipal buildings and determine the extend of the work that needs to be done. Once that study is complete, Ross will launch a series of Town Council discussions about funding the project, and the fate of the fire station, according to Chinn.

The study of the fire department's response times, completed in September by Citygate Associates, says that, "Providing fire services is akin to purchasing fire insurance, and it is important to consider the desired level of protection."

"The public policy issue," it says, "is whether to have access to a fire station nearby or farther away."

___

(c)2020 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.)

Visit The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.) at www.marinij.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.