Ross council hears detailed review of fire and ambulance deployment; no majority to fund new studies

Ross — Ross Town Council members heard a two‑hour briefing from county and valley fire officials on the provision of fire and emergency medical services to the town and surrounding Ross Valley on the evening of March 12, then debated whether to direct the town manager to pursue further studies of alternatives.

The presentation, led by Marin County Fire Chief Jason Weber, Ross Valley Fire Chief Dan Mahoney and Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority Executive Officer Mark Brown, quantified ambulance availability, described changes to dispatching and countywide incident management, and summarized wildfire‑risk reduction work already under way across Marin.

“We now have a little larger data set to look at,” Chief Weber said when summarizing recent CityGate consultant studies of ambulance unit‑hour utilization. He cautioned that “when you have smaller data sets, you can have more volatile data,” and he underscored that ambulance availability in Ross had fallen from a roughly 2017 two‑year average to lower levels in the 2023 single‑year dataset.

Nut graf: The meeting was convened so councilors could receive the briefing, hear public comment and decide whether to direct the town manager to spend staff resources to study five alternatives — including joining or contracting with neighboring districts, building a new station, standing up a Town of Ross fire department, or asking the Ross Valley Fire Department to continue operating a station in Ross. Council discussion showed considerable interest but no clear majority to fund any of the proposed studies, leaving the town manager without the three affirmative votes the council had required to begin those research efforts.

What officials presented

Chief Weber and Chief Mahoney described systemwide ambulance and engine activity and recent operational changes: a countywide consolidated dispatch center, prearrival instructions for…