Grass Valley and Nevada City just got a little safer, thanks to a new automatic aid agreement the fire departments signed with Cal Fire’s Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit.
The agreement allows state resources to respond, on initial dispatch, to any fire incident within the city limits of Grass Valley and Nevada City, Grass Valley/Nevada City Fire Division Chief Sam Goodspeed said.
“We had agreements in place, but not for a full Cal Fire response,” Goodspeed said. The agreement, announced Tuesday, officially becomes active at week’s end, he added.
On a “high” dispatch level, the cities will now receive additional state resources of up to seven engines, two hand crews, a dozer, two air tankers with an air attack, a helicopter, and a Cal Fire battalion chief. The partnership will come at no additional cost to the communities. Without the agreement in place, the only way Grass Valley and Nevada City could access those Cal Fire resources would be to meet certain thresholds.