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San Ramon Valley Fire chief highlights training tower, mental‑health response and wildfire plans
Summary
San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District leaders briefed the City Council on staffing, specialty resources and a new training tower, and described a behavioral‑health response program that diverted many calls from hospital emergency departments in 2025.
San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District Chief Jonas Agriar and newly promoted Deputy Chief Joe Bradley presented an annual operations update, emphasizing training, medical response and wildfire preparedness.
The district, which covers San Ramon and neighboring communities, presented station staffing and apparatus counts and noted it maintains an ISO Class 1 rating. Chief Agriar introduced Deputy Chief Joe Bradley, who was promoted this month and will serve as the city liaison.
Bradley said the district responded to 5,667 calls in San Ramon in 2025, with 69% classified as medical emergencies. "A majority of the calls that you go on will be 911 medical calls," Bradley told the council. He said the district staffs at least one paramedic on every fire apparatus and two paramedics on each ambulance, so residents typically receive multiple advanced‑life‑support responders on scene.
The district described a behavioral‑health program it runs with San Ramon Police that seeks alternatives to transports to the county hospital. According to the presentation, the program handled 227 behavioral‑health calls in 2025; warm transfers to the 988 crisis line and a "firefighter‑first" triage approach diverted many cases from county hospital emergency rooms. Bradley said 63% of certain firefighter‑first responses were diverted to closer, more appropriate care rather than the county facility, and the program reduced total time on task by about 12.6%.
The presentation included a tour of a new four‑story training tower and simulator at station 38. Bradley said the site supports multi‑story search and rescue, forcible‑entry and a simulated fire environment that trains recruits without exposing them to heat. The district also described expanding K‑9 teams (search and arson dogs), a peer‑support program for firefighters and specialty units including a type‑two hazmat team and mobile communications command vehicle.
On wildfire preparedness, the district said it up‑staffs by roughly 20% during Red Flag warnings, uses a data‑driven Zylaplan to prioritize fuel‑reduction work and tests more than 6,500 hydrants systemwide. Chief Agriar said small fuel‑mitigation projects in Blackhawk have slowed modeled fire spread by as much as 60 minutes, giving responders more time to contain fires.
Council members thanked the district for response times and for community programs; several members asked about staffing and long‑term resource planning for projected development. Bradley said the district uses local development projections and historical call data to time additions of resources, and that an additional ambulance is projected for the 2028–29 timeframe if call volumes warrant it.
The district asked residents to prepare homes for wildfire season and noted its free courtesy inspections and Firewise community resources to help property owners reduce risks.
