Merced County considering closing, consolidating fire stations

MERCED COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Merced County is facing a difficult decision about the future of its fire stations.

On Tuesday, the board of supervisors considered two separate options that would involve consolidating some stations and closing others altogether.

Former Merced Mayor Mike Murphy was one of dozens who came out to show support for keeping fire stations open and funded.

"You got ambulance coverage that is substandard. You got deputies that are underfunded. And now we're attacking fire protection," said Murphy.

The county is facing a financial challenge after the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection notified officials in February of last year about a staffing requirement.

There must be two fire personnel on duty 24 hours a day at each station.

Right now, Merced County is the only jurisdiction in the state using CAL FIRE services that's still operating below that level with just one person staffing three of the 19 stations.

Mark Pimentel | CalFire, Assistant Fire Chief

"It's inadequate for us to have one person, 24/7, 365 in a single facility to respond to multiple calls. A lot of these stations run anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 or 2,000 calls a year," explained Cal Fire Asst. Chief Mark Pimentel.

Pimentel presented multiple options for the board to consider.

Option 1 would close the McKee Fire Station 85, also consolidating Station 64 in Cressey and Station 92 in Ballico .

Option 2 would still consolidate those two stations and merge station 76 in the City of Dos Palos to Station 75 at the Dos Palos Wye.

This option would also close the McKee and Livingston fire stations entirely.

Priya Lakireddy is very concerned about the possibility of the McKee station closing...

"The driving time. If something were to happen, my house is going to burn down," said Lakireddy.

She says she's also upset to about the lack of discussion around this issue - after finding out about the proposal in a Facebook post.

"This is a communication issue. How do we get the information out to our constituents is a really important," Lakireddy said.

There is a third option to keep all 19 fire stations open but 27 new personnel would need to be hired.

That would cost the county $6.9 million.

The supervisors ultimately voted to continue the discussion.

"The public doesn't feel that safe, right? But that's why we made the motion to continue to give the possibility of the public becoming more aware and the finance," said Merced County Supervisor Rodrigo Espinoza.

The board will meet on May 7th to choose whether to close and consolidate fire stations.

For news updates, follow Vince Ybarra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.