Encinitas council votes to begin withdrawal from cooperative fire management agreement

ENCINITAS, Calif. — The Encinitas City Council unanimously approved a motion June 17 to initiate withdrawal from the Cooperative Fire Management Services agreement with Del Mar and Solana Beach, directing staff to give formal notice, develop a transition timeline and return with a public status update in August. Council set a target completion date of March 31, 2026.

Council members said the move is intended to let the city focus fire-management leadership and resources on local priorities including wildfire resilience, prevention work, training and efforts to raise the department’s ISO rating. Fire Chief Josh Gordon told the council that Encinitas currently funds roughly 69.25% of the cooperative management budget and that the city’s proposed cooperative-related revenue for fiscal year 2025–26 is about $850,000.

The cooperative management agreement began in late 2009 among Encinitas, Del Mar and Solana Beach (originally including Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District). Gordon summarized the management structure as 10 shared executive positions — a fire chief, deputy chief, fire marshal, administrative services manager, four battalion chiefs, a senior deputy fire marshal and an administrative captain — whose duties covered the three jurisdictions. The agreement’s cost-allocation formula, he said,…