The Monterey Fire Department’s interim chief and the city of Monterey pushed back against a civil grand jury report last week that was critical of the department’s infrastructure, equipment, training and mental health policies.
The county civil grand jury released its fifth report of the 2023-24 session, making several recommendations for the Monterey Fire Department to upgrade its facilities and equipment and make mental health services more accessible.
But the department’s interim chief, Andrew Miller, and a Monterey city spokesperson insisted that several of its recommendations are outdated and have either already been addressed or are already in the process. A statement from the city said the grand jury was urged to incorporate the updates into its report but it declined to do so.
“Together with our elected officials, staff, labor, and firefighters, we had recognized the issues contained in this report several months ago,” said Interim Monterey Fire Chief Andrew Miller. “Several of the items of concern are either resolved, in-progress, or in the planning phase,” Miller said.
Miller was appointed interim chief at the start of 2024, after the previous chief resigned in December following a no-confidence vote by members of MFD Union Local 3707, citing low morale and a lack of training.
The city released a statement that said it had invested millions of dollars in new equipment and said its mental health policies had either been enhanced or already existed. It largely agreed with the portion of the report noting issues with infrastructure, but said it was already planning to address them.
The Monterey Fire Department serves the city of Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Sand City, the Naval Postgraduate School, La Mesa Village and Monterey Regional Airport. It operates six stations covering about 55,000 residents with 85 personnel.
The grand jury acknowledged that the department had made progress in several areas the report would go into, but said it still considered the report relevant for current and future firefighters and decision-makers.
The report said that about three-quarters of the primary fire engines used by the department are past their recommended lifespan, leading to increased maintenance and unavailable equipment. It also noted only one mechanic employed by the county can make full repairs to the engines.
The grand jury was critical of the department’s training capabilities, saying they had been understaffed. It noted that “ongoing training programs are inconsistently delivered due to the lack of funding and resources.”
It also said facilities owned by the city of Monterey were outdated and needed upgrades including new HVAC units, paint, and hazardous materials inspections. It further recommended updates to the department’s alert system, which relies on radio connections rather than digital and forcing it to alert different stations one at a time.
The report took particular issue with a temporary trailer on the south side of the Monterey Regional Airport that replaced the station there when it moved to the north side of the airport. The trailer is staffed during the day, but at night, crews return to the north side station, leading to slower response times to the areas surrounding the airport that the crew covers, including the neighborhoods around Fisherman’s Flats, Ryan Ranch and state Highway 68.
The report noted that overall, the department’s average response time of about seven and a half minutes exceeded national standards. But it said the reconfiguration of the airport stations adds four to eight minutes to response times overnight.
The grand jury also said crews at the trailer are without potable water, storage space for chemically treated protective gear, changing areas and storage for engines and equipment.
The report was also critical of how accessible mental health services were, noting that even when they were available, fire personnel were unsure to what extent, and how to utilize them. The report also recommended investing in therapy dogs to live at stations, noting success in such calming techniques in Salinas and elsewhere.
‘Grossly’ ignoring city’s ‘investment’
The city of Monterey and other stakeholders have 90 days to respond, but in a preliminary response on Thursday, a city spokesperson said that the city appreciated the part of the report that noted issues with aging infrastructure. The city’s statement acknowledged all three of the stations owned by Monterey were built in the 1950s and the needs had been prioritized by the city manager in his state of the city address earlier this year.
The statement from Laurie Huelga, the city’s communications manager, said renovations for two of the stations are planned for fiscal year 2025 at a cost of $2.25 million.
But the city’s statement strongly objected to the portion of the report that flagged aging heavy equipment, including fire engines and other firefighting vehicles, referred to as the department’s fire “apparatus.”
“The Civil Grand Jury’s report grossly ignores and lacks acknowledgment of the City of Monterey’s investment in fire apparatus,” Huelga said on behalf of the city.
She said the grand jury’s data was inaccurate and pointed to six vehicles purchased in the last four years for $4.75 million.
Huelga also pushed back against the grand jury’s assertion that the department lacked a clear Critical Incident Stress Management policy to address traumatic incidents, saying that policy and an after-action reporting process had already been put in place. She said that morale and mental health were ongoing priorities.