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Fire Department adds paramedic training seats, seeks engine to restore downtown coverage
Summary
Fire Chief Shannon Evans proposed budget adjustments that include funding to send six personnel to paramedic school to sustain ALS coverage, a lease-buyout plan for engines and trucks, and funding to add an engine company to better cover downtown and the industrial corridor (Station 19).
Modesto's new fire chief told the Finance Committee April 20 that the department's proposed budget includes investments aimed at sustaining advanced life support capability, addressing staffing and apparatus needs and restoring downtown coverage.
"Sending six personnel to paramedic school supports long-term staffing stability and maintains clinical capability," Chief Shannon Evans said, noting that adding six students would increase paramedic-capable staffing from an average of 12 on shift to about 14.
The budget reflects recent negotiated pay increases for suppression personnel and projects an overall department expenditure increase driven largely by MOUs and filled vacancies. The department requested Measure H resources to support a range of items, including leased apparatus buyouts (engines and trucks acquired under prior lease agreements) and funding to staff Station 19 so downtown Modesto would be served by two engines and a truck company, as it was previously.
Evans said increasing downtown apparatus is a response to rising call volume in the downtown and industrial areas and cited existing contracts with nearby jurisdictions and county dispatch patterns that frequently send a particular contracted engine into the downtown corridor. He also described partnerships (including an MJC paramedic program projected for early 2028) designed to expand long-term paramedic training capacity locally.
Committee members sought clarification on revenue sources for the fire department (Evans and staff said contracts for service are the principal revenue source, with smaller portions from fees and occasional reimbursements) and on how station locations and apparatus would be phased in.
No formal action was taken; the requests and program proposals will be considered as part of the overall budget adoption process.
