Ross council hears wide-ranging fire and EMS briefing; declines to direct manager to pursue alternatives

Ross — The Ross Town Council on March 13 received a multi‑agency briefing on fire and emergency medical services and on wildfire prevention, then debated but declined to direct the town manager to pursue any of five alternatives for changing how fire and ambulance services are provided to the town.

Town Manager Chris Johnson opened the discussion by listing five options the council could ask staff to research: contracting with Kentfield Fire District, contracting with Central Marin Fire, updating a cost estimate to rebuild a Ross fire station, developing a cost estimate to operate a standalone Town of Ross fire department, or asking the Ross Valley Fire Department (RVFD) to continue operating a Ross station by amending the RVFD joint powers agreement. The council heard detailed presentations from Chief Jason Weber (Marin County Fire), Chief Dan Mahoney (Ross Valley Fire) and Mark Brown (Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority), who together summarized deployment studies, recent operational changes and local wildfire‑mitigation work.

The most immediate policy question before the council was whether it wanted the town manager to spend staff time and resources to study any of those five alternatives. After public comment and council discussion, no single recommendation secured a majority vote; the council did not direct the town manager to pursue any of the listed alternatives.

Why it matters: council members and dozens of residents said they were concerned about response times, wildfire risk and insurance availability after the 2019 and 2023 Citygate/Ross Valley Paramedic Authority (RVPA) deployment studies showed material differences in ambulance availability and…