Fire Services Study

Priority Issues - Cover ImagesRidgecrest Fire Services Study

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View the full Citygate Associates report here: City of Ridgecrest Risk Assessment and Station Location Analysis (04-01-21)

SUMMARY: In April of 2021, the City of Ridgecrest retained Citygate Associates, LLC  to conduct a Community Hazard and Risk Assessment and Station Location Analysis to evaluate and make recommendations relative to the organization and deployment of fire suppression operations and first responder emergency medical operations in light of the recent issue with the cost of fire services from the Kern County Fire Department.

The goal of the assessment was to identify both current services and desired service levels, and then to assess the City’s ability to provide those.

Citygate’s key findings:

· Citygate finds that Ridgecrest is not sufficiently deployed with only two fire stations, manned with a total of six on-duty firefighters who are shared with the unincorporated areas. Any serious incident, or three or more incidents at once, makes the City very dependent on outside resources. (Page 1)

· As for building fires, over the last two years, Ridgecrest has the second highest number of building fires out of nine small County contract cities studied. (Page 3)

· The City’s two fire stations are currently unable to provide prompt response times to all major neighborhood areas. Given the shape and street layout of Ridgecrest, the City needs at least three fire stations and four units on duty (three engines and one ladder truck staffed with three firefighters each) providing a minimum of 12 personnel per day, plus a command chief. (Page 4)

· Reducing service to one station all but eliminates any reasonable speed and weight of response to all significantly developed neighborhoods. (Page 5: Impact if only one fire station could be funded)

Citygate Associates, LLC  made a presentation during the City Council meeting on August 3, 2022 to review the study results. View the presentation: Standards of Cover & Community Risk Assessment Study.