Burlingame Lays Out Initial Costs for Temporary Fire Station

The Burlingame City Council this week began moving forward with its part in the four-city fire department merger that will be shared with San Bruno, discussing the costs of the first leg of the plan: building a temporary fire station while two current stations are closed in Burlingame and Millbrae.

The pilot program calls for building a temporary station on Skyline Boulevard in the Burlingame Hills between Station 38 in Millbrae and Station 35 in Burlingame. The new station, estimated to cost $500,000 to build, would be shared by the Millbrae and Central County fire departments and tested to ensure adequate response times for both communities before a permanent station is constructed after one year.

Overall, the temporary station is expected to save the Central County Fire Department, which oversees Burlingame and Hillsborough, $450,000 annually, the .

The plan to build a temporary fire station stems from an agreement the city councils in San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame and Hillsborough approved last year to consolidate their fire departments in an effort to reduce costs to taxpayers.

The entire consolidated fire agency could be run for $25 million a year, consultants said, and San Bruno would see a savings of about $230,000 each year.

For its part, San Bruno won't be affected by the building of the temporary station. The city also won't likely see much of a change when the full consolidation takes place.

Administrative cost savings are expected to be achieved through a combination of early retirements and reclassification of various positions. No employees will lose their jobs as a result of the merger.

However, an administrative merger is expected to take place on Oct. 1, allowing for the sharing of personnel and joint staff meetings, according to the San Mateo Daily Journal. The merger also calls for two council members from each city to sit on a joint fire services board when the full consolidation starts in July 2013.

Burlingame Patch Editor Miriam Finder contributed to this story.