Our Past

Tracy was established in 1878 at the junction of two railroad lines and was named after a Central Pacific Railroad official, Lathrop J. Tracy. The City of Tracy was incorporated in 1910 when its population was 2,000. The town was a booming railroad hub surrounded by farms and ranches. Several devastating structure fires struck downtown Tracy and prompted the City to organize a fire department in 1912.

The newspaper headline read, “Heart of Tracy Eaten by Flames!” On the night of June 19, 1898, a major fire occurred. The fire, believed to have started in Ms. Minnie’s Restaurant at 6th and “C” Streets, quickly spread to an adjacent saloon. The only firefighting that was done consisted of a single hose line run from the Southern Pacific Rail Yard, but it was a futile effort. The fire was unstoppable. It grew into a huge conflagration, wiping out homes, a drugstore, saloons, and other businesses over a four-block radius, including the Tracy Hotel. All the years of hard work that had been put into building the town were destroyed on that fateful night. After this tragic incident, the citizens of Tracy knew there was no way the town would have a future without adequate fire protection. Another 12 years would pass, along with more devastating fire loss, before an organized fire department was established.

After the incorporation of the city in 1910, it was determined that there was a need for the establishment of an organized fire department. The City of Tracy Fire Department was established under Ordinance Number 12 by the City of Tracy Board of Trustees on November 3, 1910. This ordinance also established the city’s fire district boundaries. Tracy’s firefighting force initially consisted of nothing more than “bucket brigades” from volunteers summoned during a fire. A city-owned building on 7th Street, just west of Central Avenue, was utilized as Tracy’s very first firehouse. Today, the building still stands next to the original Tracy Hall of Justice, and is in fact part of the new Grand Theatre building.

Tom Eagan served as the city’s first Volunteer Fire Chief. He was later appointed as the first paid Fire Chief in 1918. In 1912, the city purchased its first hose cart, which could be used to tie into cisterns that were linked to the city’s evolving water system. The firefighters received no pay for their service and had to drag hose carts to the fire. On August 16, 1916, the city passed a $19,000 bond that provided for a new firehouse and fire engine. The engine, an American La France, was purchased in September of 1916 for $6,000. The firehouse, located at 835 Central Avenue, was a multi-use facility. It was also the City Hall, housed the City Clerk, and also served as the City Jail. The Council Chamber was located upstairs, along with the sleeping quarters for the volunteer firefighters. It was dedicated at a public ceremony on April 27, 1917, and served as the municipal headquarters until the city offices were moved in 1947.

City Ordinance Number 60 was adopted on July 11, 1918, which created the formation of a paid fire department in Tracy. The newly created fire department was to consist of 14 members, including a fire chief and truck driver. At the time, the fire chief was paid a monthly salary of $10.00 and the truck driver was paid $75.00. All other members of the department received $2.00 per month for their services.

The Tracy Fire Department continued to serve its citizens from the centrally located firehouse downtown. During the late 1930’s to early 1940’s, the department was running out of space to store its equipment at the Central Avenue station. A city-owned building, located on 6th Street, just east of Central Avenue, was remodeled to provide a kitchen and sleeping quarters for the men who were on-duty. This building became known as Fire Station 2. A few years later, after renovations of Fire Station 1 provided more room for storage and equipment, the use of Fire Station 2 was no longer necessary. In fact, there is no record of its use after the late 1940’s.

In the early 1950’s, as the World War II era was coming to an end, Fire Chief Charles E. “Roxy” Hudson was able to secure new and more modern equipment with the purchase of two new pumper trucks, both built on Dodge chassis. By the late 1950’s, when Fire Chief Herb Peters was the top brass, the department’s force had grown to employ 15 paid firemen and 13 volunteers. With the increased staffing, the department was able to become more involved in the community by conducting fire safety inspections in businesses and residences.

Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s, the Tracy region began to experience significant growth. At the same time, the city and rural departments began to emerge as strong, professional forces and worked hard to better equip their personnel. It was also in the 1970’s that the first talks of department consolidation began. Like many departments throughout California, both organizations also started using such innovations as self-contained breathing apparatus, Hurst rescue tools, ladder trucks, and water tenders.

In the early 1980’s, Fire Chief Dan Watrous had the vision to see that additional fire protection resources and personnel would be needed due to the city’s rapid growth. Chief Watrous saw to it that two more firehouses were built and placed in strategic locations for better response times throughout the city. Fire Station 2 (now Station 96) was built to protect the north end of the city at a cost of $335,000 dollars. It opened for service on February 18, 1983. Fire Station 3 (now Station 97) was built to protect the south end of town and was officially dedicated on April 9, 1986.

In 1989, after the Loma Prieta Earthquake, Fire Station 1 was deemed uninhabitable due to structural damage. A temporary mobile home was moved onto the property and served as the fire company’s living quarters until 2005. The damaged firehouse would still be used for training and housed several pieces of fire apparatus. Fire Administration offices were moved to City Hall on 10th Street. The late 1980’s and 1990’s also saw the use of automated external defibrillators (AED’s), positive pressure ventilation, and a modernization of fire apparatus.

Tracy experienced a few major fires that would change the way it did business. The True Value Hardware fire of 1987 and the Opera House fire of 1991 would force Tracy to adopt better fire attack methods, a personnel accountability system, and the Incident Command System (ICS). In 1994, Tracy Fire and the Tracy Rural entered into an automatic-aid agreement, which would call for the closest fire engine to respond to a call, regardless of which fire protection boundaries it happened to be in. Both departments also began to train together on a frequent basis and adopt the same standard operating procedures.

In 1999, following years of talks, an official merge between the City of Tracy Fire Department and the Tracy Rural Fire Protection District became official.  The South County Fire Authority was formed on September 16, 1999, to provide fire service to the entire Tracy Community.

The 2000s

The new millennium brought with it great progress in the department’s ability to provide services to customers both within and outside the city limits. The “firefighter” position was created just after consolidation, as several two-person engine companies received a third crew member. Many new firefighters were hired as a result.

In 2001, South County Fire became one of the only departments in northern California to equip all first-out apparatus with Thermal Imaging Cameras, the latest technology in the fire service at the time. An Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) program was started with the formation of a Type 3 light rescue trailer. Following the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Homeland Security grants were provided with the intent to upgrade the department’s capabilities to a Type 2 medium rescue level.

In 2003, an Advanced Life Support (ALS) program was launched, with Engine 93 becoming the first to “pilot” the program by staffing a paid firefighter-paramedic each shift. With its success, and the vision of department and elected leaders to eventually provide ALS services from each station, Engine 97, Engine 96, Engine 98 followed by Engine 91 were gradually outfitted with ALS equipment and paramedics. With this commitment came the need to hire additional paramedics, which has become the current standard for entry-level new hires within South County Fire.

At the close of 2003, the Mountain House Community Services District, located northwest of Tracy between Interstate 205 and Byron Highway, began contracting for fire protection services from the Tracy Fire Department. This included the purchase of an engine, which was housed at Station 94 until the building of the first Mountain House fire station. Fire Station 98 in Mountain House was dedicated in December of 2005. Station 95, located on Linne Rd., was closed in order to staff Engine 98 with its initial two-person company. This station was ultimately staffed with three personnel including an assigned paramedic. Tracy continued to provide service to the Mountain House community until the contract terminated in September 2015.

In March of 2005, Station 91 was relocated from the downtown area to W. 11th Street, a recommendation given from a Standards of Response Coverage report conducted in 1998. Following this relocation, department and city leaders re-commissioned a new Standards of Response Coverage study to obtain more current statistical data regarding South County Fire’s ability to arrive at incidents within the goal of 5 minutes of dispatch, 95% of the time within the city and 50% within the district. The report was finalized in 2007 and then reviewed by Kirchhoff and Associates for recommendations and implementation in 2008. As a result, performance objectives were modified to more accurately represent NFPA 1710 Standards. The new response time objective became and remains to arrive on scene within 6.5 minutes total reflex time (911 call, call processing, firefighter turnout, and travel time) 90% of the time for a municipal level of service and 10 minutes total reflex 90% of the time for a rural level of service. Among numerous other recommendations, Mobile Data Terminals (MDT’s) were added to each apparatus to assist with response efficiency and dispatch communications. Implementation of constant staffing to 3-person companies was standardized and a second company (Engine 91) was added at Station 91.

 

In 2007, the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) entrusted South County Fire with a Type 1 out-of-county apparatus, Cal OES Engine 236, as part of the Region IV mutual aid deployment plan to respond to large scale incidents as requested throughout the state. Cal OES Engine 349, which replaced Cal OES 236 in late 2008, is currently assigned to Station 92, which provides the personnel to staff “initial attack” or "immediate need" strike team requests as part of the California Office of Emergency Services.

Another Standards of Cover study was conducted in 2007.  As a result of the study, it was determined a relocation of two existing stations (that were in need of replacement) would better serve the community.  Ultimately, Station 92 was relocated from the Banta area into the Northeast Industrial area (1035 E. Grant Line Road), and Station 96 was relocated closer to the I-205 commercial area (1800 W. Grant Line Road).  The relocation of these two stations provided better coverage to a more dense population while maintaining service levels to less populated areas.

In 2017, South County Fire migrated from a single-vehicle type ladder truck to a Tractor Drawn Aerial (tiller) ladder truck.  This unit allows for greater maneuverability and access to our growing and building diverse community.  The new ladder truck (T91) was upgraded to an Advanced Life Support (ALS) unit as well, making all first out fire apparatus in the Authority ALS.

In 2018, South County Fire was assigned a Type II Hazardous Materials vehicle from Cal OES.  The Authority provided additional trained personnel as Specialists to staff the unit to the level of a Type II Hazardous Materials Team.  The unit responds both locally and statewide to Hazardous Materials incidents.

Our Present

The South County Fire Authority (SCFA) was in place from September 1999 until March 2018. In an effort to streamline governance and refine the previous arrangement, the member agencies of the SCFA resolved to re-establish a new Joint Powers Authority (JPA).  In March of 2018, the original SCFA was dissolved and the same member agencies reconstituted the Authority into a new joint powers authority known as the South San Joaquin County Fire Authority (SSJCFA).  This new Authority, commonly referred to as "South County Fire," provides a structure that will allow the Authority to move toward a "stand-alone" agency with the ability to further regionalize fire service into the future.

Today, South County Fire offers a diverse range of services to an area of approximately 170 square miles and over 100,000 people. Today, the department has a force consisting of 75 professional firefighters, 5 reserve firefighters, a fire chief, two division chiefs, three battalion chiefs, a fire marshal, an EMS manager, a training officer, three civilian fire inspectors, a plans examiner, a permit technician, and a three-person administrative support staff. Members of South County Fire serve and protect the City of Tracy, as well as all of the surrounding rural areas from the Stanislaus County line to the Alameda County line. The response area is protected 24 hours a day by seven staffed engine companies, one truck company, and a Battalion Chief operating out of seven fire stations. Additional available equipment is a water tender and a Type II hazardous materials (hazmat) unit.

In the fiscal year 2019-2020, South County Fire responded to over 9,025calls for emergency service. The majority of 911 calls are emergency medical in nature, ranging from acute illnesses to injuries suffered in motor vehicle accidents. On average, fire-related incidents make up 10% of all dispatches, including structure, vehicle, and wildland fires. The department also responded to numerous hazardous materials, service and good intent calls, and false alarms.

South County Fire personnel provide various non-emergency services to the public, including: fire prevention, public education, Learn Not To Burn curriculum to all fourth-grade students, child automotive restraint safety training, smoke detector installation, CPR training, and fire safety inspections.

Today, South County Fire is comprised of highly qualified, skilled men and women committed to providing the highest level of service and care to those whom they are sworn to protect. As the community grows and the needs of the citizens evolve, South County Fire maintains our commitment to adapt to the ever-changing demands placed upon us.