Madera County fire supervisors say mechanics were not placed on mandatory standby; dispute centers on take‑home vehicles and an on‑call calendar

Former Madera County assistant fire chief Matt Watson and fleet manager Ryan Knoll told the Civil Service Commission on April 25 that master mechanics were not placed on mandatory standby duty and that take‑home service vehicles were provided as a longstanding operational convenience, not “in lieu” of standby pay.

Watson, who testified that he oversaw CAL FIRE operations in Madera County from February 2018 until February 2023, said the county’s fire operations covered about 351 employees across 23 stations with a combined state, county and city budget of about $30,000,000. He told the commission he never placed master mechanics or the parts assistant on mandatory standby and that emergency response duties after normal hours belonged to assigned emergency personnel such as battalion chiefs and firefighters.

The commission heard competing claims about how after‑hours calls were handled. Watson described multiple methods for making emergency purchases or repairs outside normal business hours — county CalCards assigned to battalion chiefs, fuel cards carried on engines and commercial vendor accounts — and said a parts assistant was not needed on standby because parts stores are typically closed outside business hours. He said a party could call a tow truck if mechanics were unavailable.

Fleet manager Ryan Knoll, who previously worked as a…