RSF Fire District Breaks Off From Partnership with Encinitas, Other Cities

Earlier this month, the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District decided to end it's shared management agreement with the cities of Encinitas, Solana Beach and Del Mar, according to U-T San Diego.

The deal, struck in 2009, was a way for the smaller districts to operate more cost effectively by sharing services and cost of labor for firefighters and batallion chiefs, and other upper management positions, including Fire Chief. 

But RSF announced that they were ending their part in the agreement.

“It didn’t work out for us,” RSF Deputy Fire Chief Tony Michel told the newspaper. “The reduction of the duplication of effort was never realized as we thought it would be.”

There will be no changes in service for customers of the three cities remaining in the partnership, including Encinitas, according to Michel. U-T San Diego says that the agreement has allowed each smaller fire district to save more than $340,000 annually. 

Encinitas City Manager Gus Vina told the newspaper that efforts to further consolidate the departments for Encinitas, Solana Beach and Del Mar are ongoing. Encinitas currently has six fire stations, while the other cities have one each.