During a special presentation given last week to the Ceres City Council, members were given an overview of how another city’s fire department has improved fire and emergency medical service needs in Ceres.

The presentation comes at a time when Ceres must renew its five-year contract for fire services with the city of Modesto.

The city of Ceres gave up its own fire department in June 2021 and contracted with Modesto Fire to save expenses and expand coverage. Modesto Fire also picked up the other neighboring districts previously served by the city – the rural Ceres Fire Protection District (four square miles southeast of Ceres) and the Industrial Fire Department (approximately three square miles with a population under 13,000 residents).

“The full service contractor provides a greater depth of firefighters and an increased level of service,” Modesto Fire Assistant Fire Chief Andrew Hunter told the council. “The contract provides paramedic firefighters providing advanced life support to the community. Ceres benefits from technical rescue and hazmat teams.”

Hunter also added that the most significant benefit for Ceres is the “improved service delivery in day-to-day calls through enhanced operational alignment. This ensures that all 24 fire engines, four ladder trucks, five battalion chiefs, and the EMS captain and fire investigator that are on duty function as one cohesive fire department.”

Since contracting with Modesto, Ceres’ ISO (Insurance Service Office) fire protection rating has improved from a Class 3 to a Class 2, “reflecting a stronger fire suppression capabilities, enhanced training, improvements in water supply and dispatch system.”

Fire Assistant Fire Chief Hunter explained that Ceres occupies 9.5 square miles with a population of 49,300 residents. Modesto Fire mans three fire stations in Ceres and has one unstaffed station on Service Road that is used as a training center.

During 2024, Modesto Fire responded to 5,947 calls for service in Ceres, including 4,589 EMS calls, and 406 fire calls of which were 55 working structure fires.

Chief Hunter also explained that around the time of the Ceres contract was inked, Modesto Fire had an opportunity to build upon resource sharing partnerships between Turlock Fire Department, Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District and the city of Modesto. That partnership, he said, “created efficiencies and approved the services provided to the community.”

Hunter explained the benefits to Ceres by comparing to what services were offered previously.

Prior to contracting with Modesto, Ceres Fire department had three staffed fire station stations with two fire engines and a ladder truck and a battalion chief for a total of 11 firefighters on duty every day. With Modesto, there are 26 staffed fire stations, 24 staffed fire engines, four staffed ladder trucks, five battalion chiefs, one fire investigator, one EMS captain, with “a total of 94 firefighters that are immediately available to respond to calls for service. This means that as additional calls for service come in, resources can move to ensure that there’s the best possible coverage throughout the system.” 

Hunter noted that all Modesto firefighters “train together, respond to calls together, and have operational alignment as if there were one fire department.”

Another benefit is that Modesto Fleet Services provides regular maintenance of fire apparatuses whereas Ceres had to use in-house mechanics or send engines off to various vendors for servicing, creating extended turnaround times.

“Some of the benefits are reduced down times of fire apparatus. Their fleet facilities are open 19 hours a day, seven days a week. They have the ability to make field repairs, and we have a certified mechanics that can work on fire equipment.”

Hunter also spoke to the 77 percent of calls which are medical related and that having a dedicated emergency medical service division provides enhanced service to the community.

Modesto Fire Department has an EMS division made up of six personnel, overseen by a paramedic deputy chief, an assisted by an EMS quality improvement coordinator who is a registered nurse. The division also includes three paramedic fire captains, assigned on shift, that can respond to more complex medical calls, like multiple casualty incidents, victim entrapments with extended extrication times, structure fires, and hazardous materials calls among others. The team assists with providing patient care and assisting with coordinating patient care between the ambulance companies and the receiving hospital. The quality improvement coordinator nurse provides clinical quality improvement by reviewing calls for compliance and making recommendations for improvement if needed.

Other benefits to Ceres are:

• Quarterly training for firefighters;

• A fire prevention division that includes a staff of eight, including inspectors and administrative staff.

• Having the Stanislaus County Fire Investigation Unit to assist with fire origin and cause determination.

• A dedicated training division that includes five assigned personnel with additional subject matter instructors assisting as needed. Multiple training sites include Service Road, 17, the Turlock training facility, and the Regional Fire Training Center at Modesto Junior College.

Ceres City Councilwoman Cerina Otero said the presentation was “helpful for our residents to see what the contract is like and how it currently is benefiting them.”

Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra asked for a comparison with the firefighter numbers under Ceres compared to Modesto. Ceres, Hunter explained, would have had 11 firefighters on duty so one structure fire would have drawn all to one incident. Usually 18 are required to fight a working structure fire.

“It’s not uncommon for there to be a structure fire, a second structure fire or potential structure fire or an EMS called taking place all at the same time,” said Hunter. “We’ve had numerous fires within a city of Ceres response area that have exceeded the city of Ceres, on its own, to be able to handle a multi-alarm fires.”

He noted larger incidences like fires at the recycling plant, a hazmat incident at a local business and pallet fires can consume resources of a smaller department.

“Earlier during the summer we had a vegetation fire that spread into multiple backyards within the city, where we had multiple resources on scene and the benefit of this relationship is that we have sufficient staffing that we can adjust resources to ensure that when that second and third and fourth call come in that there are resources available to respond.”

“It’s been a huge difference having this contract with MFD,” said Mayor Javier Lopez, “and I can truly appreciate all the hard work that you and your department has done. So I support this contract, and I also support all the men and women that work really hard every single day to keep us protected.”