Menifee delays city-led fire-feasibility push after county and CAL FIRE outline progress
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
After presentations from CAL FIRE/Riverside County officials and consultants, Menifee councilors agreed to defer a city-commissioned feasibility study and watch results of an ongoing Citygate standards-of-cover review and county-led station additions before initiating an RFP.
Menifee, Calif. — Menifee's City Council on Wednesday decided to postpone a city-initiated feasibility study of alternative fire-service models after hearing updates from CAL FIRE/Riverside County and consultants outlining recent changes intended to improve response parity and capacity.
Deputy Chief Lonnie Olson of the CAL FIRE Riverside unit told the council the department contracted Citygate Associates in May 2025 to perform a standards-of-cover evaluation that will "pull the curtain back" on operations, response models and cost-allocation methodology. Olson said the department has also begun operational changes such as a triage system and a nurse-navigation program that together offloaded about "1,700 calls" from Menifee in 2025, freeing resources for higher-priority incidents.
"This is going to pull the curtain back on our fire department and we'll have somebody as a third party come and do an evaluation and look at our insides and decide what can we do to be better on all things," Olson said.
Officials also described interim station and staffing steps neighboring jurisdictions have taken: the city of Paris opened a temporary station north of Ethanac Road and has funded a Station 105 (designated the Washington Station) scheduled to go into service in March or April 2026 to improve service to Menifee's far southeast. Paris has also placed medic squads into service to supplement coverage.
Acting Mayor Kerwin and several council members said the combination of new county leadership and the ongoing Citygate study argues for a pause before the city launches its own, potentially duplicative feasibility RFP. Councilor Martinez asked when the Citygate study will be complete; staff and the deputy chief said the Citygate work is expected to be finalized in 2026.
"I think it would be... better off to postpone this until next summer when the report's finished and see what is changing," a council member said during the discussion.
Staff characterized two options for council direction: (1) defer the city feasibility study and gather further county data, or (2) direct staff to issue a request for proposals immediately. Council members coalesced around option 1, instructing staff to monitor county progress and revisit the matter after the Citygate evaluation is complete. No formal vote was taken; the item concluded with consensus to defer.
The presentation also highlighted other operational reforms: a dispatch accreditation and quality-improvement program for the county's 911 dispatch center, greater use of nurse navigation to redirect nonemergency callers to telehealth or urgent care, and work to establish cost-allocation methodology so that the county and partner cities share costs more equitably.
Next steps: staff will continue to coordinate with county fire leadership, track Citygate's findings and return to council with recommendations after the Citygate report and related county actions are available.
Sources: Presentation and answers at the Menifee City Council meeting on Feb. 18, 2026 — remarks by Deputy Chief Lonnie Olson and Assistant Manager Bridal Jones.