By Molly Gamble

Remodeling a dilapidated, local firehouse should not be dividing a community. But that is what is happening in Ross with a proposed ballot initiative to force the town to rebuild and operate the 98-year-old Ross Fire Station.

In 2021, after years of thorough evaluation and public process, the Ross Town Council unanimously decided to close the Fire Station. More than four years later, a group of residents wants to force a remodel of the “historically significant” firehouse.

It argues that eliminating the Fire Station will increase response time. However, it ignores the experts and relies on an outdated model of emergency response. It overlooks that the Ross Valley Paramedic Authority’s ambulance will remain in Ross, along with the Ross Police Department, which also responds to emergencies.

I consider the group’s response to be a backward-looking, emotional reaction during a time when mutual aid and shared resources are the reality.

Since Marin County’s Emergency Command Center was established in 2024, no town in Marin is an island when it comes to emergency response. The ECC sends the closest and most appropriate responder regardless of jurisdiction.

The success of our emergency services lies in the strength of our coordinated mutual-aid response. With other fire stations in very close proximity (Kentfield 0.3 miles and San Anselmo 0.6 miles away), there is no need for a fire station in Ross. It is a relic of the town’s volunteer fire department of the last century. Similarly, a wildfire would receive a broad, coordinated regional response, not just from one fire station.

It appears to me that the Ross Fire Station may be in the worst physical and functional condition of any public safety facility in Marin. It is an embarrassing double standard that, while residents spend huge amounts of money reWbuilding their own houses, the first responders stationed in Ross have been living in deplorable conditions for decades.

Even though the Ross Fire Station is no longer needed, the group seeks to rehabilitate the facility. This ignores numerous professional evaluations (starting in the early 2000s) that have all concluded the facility cannot be modernized.

It also ignores that remodeling will not solve critical emergency vehicle circulation constraints, poor layout and flooding issues. And it ignores that the town approved a facilities master plan in 2023 that addresses the police, paramedic and administration buildings, finally bringing these facilities to a condition where they will last another 75 to 100 years.

Another significant consequence of this plan is the enormous additional operational costs to run a fire station. Even if the group raises the $14 million to $17.5 million needed to rebuild it, the plan would burden residents with staggeringly higher taxes to pay for the operations of a standalone fire station and department.

Some estimates show it could cost an additional $5 million per year and likely increase in most years. This could be funded by a parcel-tax increase on residents of $6,000 per year. However, two-thirds approval of this on a future ballot is highly unlikely, as it would mean a 500% increase in the current parcel tax.

Alternatively, private funds could be raised, but it appears to me that it would require $100 million for an endowment (assuming a 5% annual return).

I believe this risk of creating an astronomical annual tax burden is why nearby Belvedere, with a similar number of households as Ross, decided in the early 1980s to close their volunteer fire station and receive paramedic and fire services from Tiburon.

By necessity, public safety planning decisions are held to a higher standard of accountability. Public funding, particularly in the case of modernizing essential emergency services, ensures the greatest common good over the longest period.

Rather than using an outdated firefighting model, Ross residents need to understand mutual aid and the ECC. A privately funded, backward-looking firehouse renovation in Ross also saddles the residents with a massive tax increase. This puts the personal interest of a select few ahead of the best interests of the many.

Historical rehabilitation and 21st century public safety codes do not usually go in the same sentence. Let’s plan our local emergency response facilities with the next 100 years in mind rather than the last.

Molly Gamble is a Ross resident.