A new fire agreement between Washoe County and the city of Reno goes into effect tomorrow (Thursday), though the city's fire chief says it's a merely a Band-Aid for a full merger. Reno Public Radio's Julia Ritchey has more.
The automatic fire aid agreement will require whichever fire truck is closest to a blaze to respond regardless of whose jurisdiction it's in.
The deal was finalized last week between the city and county to comply with a new state law.
Reno's Interim Fire Chief David Cochran says he doubts the auto-aid will be used very much at all.
"And it's important to remember that it's just for fires,” says Cochran. “It's not for EMS or other calls, and the goal there is to get the closest apparatus to the fire as quickly as possible."
Cochran called the agreement a "Band-Aid" in place of a full re-consolidation of the two departments, which split in 2012. A lawsuit over that breakup is still pending.
The agreement won't impact the number of firefighters dispatched to the scene. The city will continue to send a four-person crew while the county will dispatch a team of three.
Data will be collected on the number of times each department sends a truck to another jurisdiction and officials will review the agreement at the end of the year.
