A short-term deal means fire protection continues for northwest Fresno County

Fresno firefighters will continue to provide fire protection services for a large swath of northwestern Fresno County under an agreement approved Monday by the Fresno City Council.

The council’s 7-0 vote in a special meeting came less than two weeks before the city planned to cut off services to the North Central Fire Protection District only 10 years into a 30-year contract between the two agencies. The council voted voted 6-1 in March to terminate the contract because the city was spending more to staff North Central’s three stations and respond to fires and emergencies than the district was paying under the contract. North Central subsequently sued the city, asserting that Fresno didn’t have the right to unilaterally cancel the contract.

The deal approved Monday will carry the services through at mid-2019, and calls for North Central to pay the city $600,000 a month, or $10.8 million, over the next year and a half. The interim agreement maintains the current staffing level of 46 firefighters for North Central’s three stations in Biola, Kerman and near Kearney Park. It also calls for the two agencies to continue negotiations toward a new contract.

The district paid about $5.1 million under the previous contract in the 2016-17 budget year that ended June 30 – a figure that then-Fresno City Manager Bruce Rudd estimated would fall short of the costs by about $1.9 million for the year.

The North Central district encompasses about 250 square miles of territory west of Fresno, including the city of Kerman as well as some parts of northwest Fresno.

This story was originally published December 4, 2017 at 2:38 PM with the headline "A short-term deal means fire protection continues for northwest Fresno County."