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Ventura County Fire chief briefs Santa Paula council on call trends and new station progress
Summary
Chief Williams reported a roughly 17% increase in call volume in Santa Paula since 2018, described that about 78% of calls are medical, reviewed prevention and inspection activity, and outlined progress on Fire Station 27 and Truck 29 placement.
Ventura County Fire Chief Williams presented a summary of 2025 service activities to the Santa Paula City Council on March 26, noting a roughly 17% increase in calls in the city since 2018 and that medical calls make up about 78% of incidents. He said fire incidents account for roughly 2.1% of calls but consume a disproportionate share of man-hours.
Chief Williams described fire prevention activity (698 inspection actions reported), nuisance fires and brush incidents in the river-bottom and 12th Street corridor, and technical-rescue responses including a recent high-angle rescue. He noted that truck 29 will enter service at Fire Station 27 in May and will be assigned to that station until the new station is completed, with the crew and apparatus transitioning when construction finishes.
Council members asked about fireworks enforcement ahead of July 4; Chief Williams said the department's primary tools are public-information campaigns and prevention efforts and noted that Oxnard used drone surveillance last year for enforcement (a law-enforcement and privacy issue). No new countywide enforcement program was identified.
Chief Williams closed by offering staff to provide more detail on any data points councilmembers wanted explained.
