REEDLEY – Updated agreements between local and county fire agencies will blaze a new trail for future collaboration.
On April 14, the Reedley City Council approved a new automatic aid agreement, as well as a new emergency dispatch services agreement, with the Fresno County Fire Protection District. The previous agreements have been in place since 2011, and the changes made will help ensure more equitable and streamlined collaboration between Reedley and FCFPD.
Pulled from the consent agenda by Mayor Pro Tem Mary Fast, Reedley Fire Chief Michael Canales took to the podium to give a brief overview of the agreements and to answer questions.
The new automatic aid agreement takes on a “nearest available unit” model, establishes predefined response plans and creates a unified incident command structure between the two agencies, all of which are designed to improve response times and ensure efficient personnel use.
The new emergency dispatch services agreement will have FCFPD — through its cooperative agreement with CAL FIRE — provide comprehensive emergency dispatch services to Reedley, including dispatching resources for all 911 calls for fires, traffic collisions and other emergencies in the city’s jurisdiction.
The city will be required to reimburse FCFPD for actual dispatch service costs based on call volume, consumer price index adjustments and additional equipment use.
Canales explained that the emphasis on smart personnel use under these agreements will be especially beneficial for the Reedley department.
Moving forward, Reedley will respond to fewer of what Canales called “single-engine responses,” which include medical aid and smoke checks. Instead, the city will mainly be called out to the county for “two-engine-or-more responses” like traffic accidents, structure fires and bigger medical rescue calls.
Canales told the council that this should help alleviate the personnel costs, as well soft costs like fuel and engine maintenance, that have previously stemmed from responding to smaller calls that were later cancelled. Out of around 270 dispatches out into the county last year, a little more than 100 of those were cancelled while personnel were in the process of responding, he said.
“The best cost estimate that I came to was that in the last two years, it’s been about $60,000 a year between our big call personnel costs and some fuel in the engine time,” Canales later said to the council.
City Manager Nicole Zieba noted during the discussion that under the new dispatch services agreement, this will be the first time that the city will have to pay for fire dispatch services. However, both she and Canales said that the fiscal impact is expected to be relatively minor thanks to the cost savings.
The staff report approximates the Fiscal Year 2026-27 impact at around $15,842.02, which is to be funded through the public safety sales tax and has been included in the proposed FY 2026-27 budget.
Zieba also informed the council that other dispatch options were considered, such as using police dispatch or Fresno County EMS services, but FCFPD was determined to be the best option based on cost, operational similarities and already having a history with the agency.
“The chief and I will be watching this very carefully over the year to make sure that if there’s any fluctuations in that formula where we didn’t anticipate correctly, that we’re coming back to you for any changes,” Zieba said to the council.
