Autumn brings spectacular color across the Truckee Meadows
Autumn brings spectacular color across the Truckee Meadows
County Home => Manager`s Office => Management Services => Fire Services => Truckee Meadows Fire Transition Plan

On June 28, 2011, the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District Board of Fire Commissioners elected to terminate the Interlocal Agreement with the City of Reno. Direct operational responsibility will transfer back to Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District (TMFPD) on July 1, 2012. For a historical overview of the process to improve fire service in our community please download the timeline. For a quick summary of Washoe County Fire Services please download our two page handout "TMF Fire Services: Creating a Cost-Effective Regional Fire Service" 

Below are links to a few key documents:

Community Events: 

A small community forum for the Hidden Valley area as held on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. An informal community discussion specific to that area, was held at Regional Animal Services, For more information, please download the invitation flyer.

Specific to the South West Truckee Meadows area, a community forum will be held on May 8, 2012 at Bartley Ranch. The event will begin at 6:00 p.m. and run to 7:30 p.m. Bartley Ranch is located at 6000 Bartley Ranch Road and the meeting will be held in the Western Heritage Building. For more information, please download the invitation flyer. The agenda is also available online.

In the Verdi Mogul Communities, a community forum will be held on May 24, 2012 at the Verdi Elementary School. The event will be held between 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The Verdi Elementary School is located at 250 Bridge Street and the meeting will be held in the cafeteria. For more information please download the invitation flyer.

Restarting direct delivery of service will not be a simple task. Much work is required to ensure the seamless transition of service between the entities. The primary focus of this effort must be to effectively manage the transition, so that there is no interruption of service to the community. The expanded Transition Plan (Approved 12/13/2011) describes in detail the actions that are necessary to accomplish the transfer of operational responsibility and includes tasks related to incorporating Sierra Fire Protection District.  The plan is divided into nine functional areas. Click on each functional area to view the timeline progress.

  1. Organization
  2. Capital Assets and Equipment
  3. Human Resources
  4. Finance
  5. Risk Management
  6. Legal
  7. Technology
  8. External Relationships
  9. Volunteer Fire Departments

To view the fire district boundaries, click here

The Reno/Truckee Meadows/Washoe County Transition Team members are:

  • Washoe County: Management Services Director John Slaughter and Kurt Laitpow
  • City of Reno: Michael Hernandez
  • City of Reno Primary Contact: Tray Palmer: email: palmert@reno.gov and phone: 813-8599

Transition Plan Functional Areas and Lead Contact Information:

As the transition plan progresses, this webpage will be updated. Please be sure to check back often for updated information. If you have questions or comments, please send an email to: fire@washoecounty.us

Manager`s Office +
Truckee Meadows Fire Transition Plan +
When and why did the Truckee Meadows Board of Fire Commissioners (BOFC) terminate the Interlocal Agreement for Fire Services (also known as, the Fire Services Agreement) with the Reno Fire Department?
Following months of discussion and two formal requests to the City of Reno to address issues of concern, the Board of Fire Commissioners voted on June 28, 2011 to send notification to the City of Reno that Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District (TMFPD) would not be renewing the fire services contract. This notice initiated the 12-month process necessary to reconstitute TMFPD under full Board of Fire Commissioners’ control. The termination was based primarily on an independently verified financial analysis that showed that TMFPD was not financially sustainable given the current expenditure levels and on-going tax revenue reductions in that fire district’s service territory. Since the beginning of the Great Recession in FY 07-08, the District’s total General Fund revenues have declined from $18,629,267 to an anticipated $13,976,359 in FY 14-15 for a $4,652,908 or 25% decrease in total annual revenues.

In short, if urgent action was not taken, TMFPD would continue to suffer declining fund balances, and it could be in a deficit in as little as two years. In making the decision, the BOFC noted the decision to terminate the contract with the City of Reno was made based on the financial analysis presented to them; noting that while the TMFPD has saved approximately $11 million over the past decade as a result of the contract, current economic conditions make the current and proposed contract financially unsustainable and could lead to the TMFPD’s financial demise.
What are the next steps?
A Transition Plan has been created that will transfer direct operational responsibility to TMFPD/SFPD. The plan is available for review at http://www.washoecounty.us/repository/files/1/tmfpd_transition_plan_aug2011.pdf

Will Truckee Meadows Fire and Sierra Fire Protection District merge?
Yes. The Board of Fire Commissioners has indicated that their long-term goal is regionalization of fire services, and they voted on October 25, 2011 to initially pursue the merger of the Sierra Fire Protection District (SFPD) and the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District (TMFPD), since both districts will be under their authority effective July 2012. Any and all local fire services will be welcome to join the regionalized service, once it is up and running.
Will my taxes change?
On May 21, 2012, the Washoe County Commissioners, acting as the Board of Fire Commissioners for the Districts, approved the final consolidated TMFPD/SFPD Fire District budget. The $21,250,141 budget includes 24/7 staffing for 11 career fire stations, and 13 volunteer fire stations servicing all areas of the Fire District including Caughlin Ranch, Windy Hill, Verdi and Hidden Valley. The budget was based on the Board of Fire Commissioners’ March 27, 2012 decision to implement Plan B for a TMFPD/SFPD consolidated Fire District.

The decision established a tax rate of 54 cents per $100 of assessed value for both the fire districts. This is an increase of approximately 2 percent or 6.87 cents in the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District tax rate or $24 per year increase in the average property tax bill for fire service. The tax rate for SFPD changed from 52 cents to 54 cents per $100 of assessed value for a less than 1% increase in the average property tax bill. Due to the decline in the assessed valuation, however, it is anticipated the average tax bill will still experience a decrease even with the increase in the districts’ tax rates.

What will happen to my fire station?
All current, full-time staffed stations will remain staffed.
Will TMFPD and/or Sierra Fire need to brown-out stations?
The projected funding and proposed staffing will result in all stations.
Will the boundaries of the District change?
No. At this time, there are no plans to change the district boundaries.
What about Emergency Medical Services (EMS)? Will TMFPD provide EMS like the Sierra District does?
TMFPD has in the past and will continue to staff their engines with Emergency Medical Technicians certified at the Intermediate level. While this level is not the same as the Paramedic staffing in SFPD, they can administer intravenous fluids and medications consistent with their certification. REMSA will continue to provide EMS service in its primary response zones as specified in its franchise agreement.
How can the TMFPD/SFPD operate less expensively than the City of Reno? Aren’t smaller fire departments more costly than larger ones?
The City of Reno’s labor two-year agreement with their union mandates a minimum of 4-person staffing on each fire engine. The ability for the TMFPD/SFPD to operate with flexible staffing and changes to employee compensation are critical in meeting the BOFC’s two primary goals of keeping fire stations open and operating and eliminating the budget deficit. With minimum 3-person staffing, a savings of 15 personnel or $1.5 million per year could be achieved, thereby allowing all 5 stations to remain open and operating while eliminating the operating budget deficit. It is possible that with flexible staffing, there could be 4-person staffing, when required.
Will there be a new Fire Board?
No. The elected Board of Fire Commissioners for Truckee Meadows and Sierra Fire currently is in place and has been since the district was formed in 1974. There is no need to support an additional board.
What are automatic and mutual aid agreements?
Automatic aid agreements are typically entered into between neighboring agencies resulting in the closest resource being dispatched regardless of jurisdiction. In addition these agreements result in enhancements in depth and availability of effective response to those calls that require additional staffing and apparatus.

Mutual Aid is a voluntary response by agencies and is based on the needs of the agency in command of the incident. Mutual Aid is typically requested when an incident exceeds the capabilities of the local agency. Mutual Aid requests can be made of local, state, federal and out of state agencies.
Why should the City of Reno agree to allow the closest unit to respond, regardless of agency, for no additional compensation?
A July 2012 independent analysis reviewed the history of cross-jurisdictional responses to emergency calls. In addition, it compared the assessed valuation of property within each agency cross-boundary closest response unit area between October 1, 2009 and September 20, 2010. The report indicates that there were 1,358 incidents in 2010 in the City of Reno jurisdiction where TMFPD and SFPD were the closest responding station. This compares to 896 incidents in TMFPD and SFPD jurisdictions where Reno was the closest first responder.

While technically, Reno benefits most from this agreement using closest responding vehicle, the goal is a new cooperative agreement that is in the best interest of all taxpayers. A majority of the gaps identified in both service areas existed prior to the development of the Interlocal Agreement. The imbalance of service demands between TMFPD, SFPD and the City of Reno is marginal and outweighed by the overarching goal of utilizing all available resources to provide the quickest response to the citizens of all jurisdictions.

Will TMFPD/SFPD have seasonal firefighters?
Prior to contracting with the City of Reno, TMFPD had a seasonal firefighter program. As the economy improves, the BOFC may consider reinstituting the program.
Will TMFPD/SFPD have volunteer firefighters?
TMFPD/SFPD have a long history of successful Volunteer Fire Fighter programs and the Transition Plan will take steps to maintain and improve the program.
Can the TMFPD/SFPD expand to include other fire agencies in the future?
The Board has given specific direction that the consolidated districts be designed to permit the addition of other fire service agencies that may wish to join in the future.