Four central Sonoma County fire agencies aim to join forces within months as one huge fire district — a shift fast-tracked by the October fires and the most visible progress in a years-long effort to streamline the county’s outdated, uneven and financially struggling fire services network.
Windsor, Rincon Valley and Bennett Valley fire districts and the Mountain Volunteer Company are on track to be one agency by this spring.
The plan is backed by the Board of Supervisors, which has long favored consolidation and which last year promised funding for agencies joining forces. Currently, almost 40 fire agencies exist countywide, but the operating theory is that a more centralized, professional firefighting corps can be better prepared for a future with more destructive, faster-moving wildfires.
The new 160-square-mile district with 75,000 residents would cover about a tenth of the county in a swath that encircles Santa Rosa. Officials say it could serve as a template for future consolidation in fire service.