September 23, 2021 – My name is Trenton McGill. I am a Fire Captain for the Clovis Fire Department and President of the Clovis Firefighter’s Association. I am writing to share why our Association is supporting Measure Y, the one percent sales tax measure for the City of Clovis which will appear on your ballots in November, and humbly ask that you join us in voting Yes on Measure Y.
The personnel in the Clovis Fire Department consist of a group of men and women committed to a high-level of service to this community. On the side of our fire engines, you will see the slogan “Service with Pride”.
Our members pride themselves in delivering high levels of customer service. Having worked for more than one fire department in my career, I can personally tell you that the term “customer service” is not just something we say, rather it is something we strive to deliver each day, no matter how large, small, or stressful the situation.
With that said, similar to other departments in the city, our ability to maintain and provide the level of service our citizens not only deserve, but have come to expect, is at risk. The Clovis Fire Department has the same number of sworn personnel that we had in 2007. Since 2007, the population of our city has grown 40%. This has led to a significant increase in calls for service. Not only has our population grown, but the square mileage footprint of the city has increased as well.
Our department is struggling to meet the response time standards that we have set for ourselves. This is also the standard that we strive to meet as we are an internationally accredited fire department through the Center for Public Safety Excellence, an accomplishment we have maintained through five cycles starting in 2003.
Our goal as a department is to be able to respond in 6 minutes and 30 seconds from the moment a 911 dispatcher answers the phone, to the moment a Clovis Firefighter arrives at your front door. In our industry, minutes and seconds truly matter. To put it in perspective, roughly 70% of our calls are medical in nature.
According to the American Heart Association, it was found that every minute that an individual is in cardiac arrest, and is without care, they lose 10-12% chance of survival.
When it comes to structure fires, whether it’s a residential home, apartment, or one of our local businesses, the National Institute of Standards and Technology research shows that a fire doubles in size every minute, to a minute and a half. This not only puts citizens at risk, it puts fire personnel at risk as well, and contributes to greater losses to homeowners and business owners.
If Measure Y is approved by our residents, we could receive the necessary funding to put measures in place to lower these response times and maintain the service that our citizens, our customers, deserve. The fire department has been looking at ways to lower our response times. One opportunity that additional funding could allow is putting two “squads” in service.
Squads would be placed at stations and operate alongside the current Engines and Trucks. Squads would be staffed with two personnel and form a “quick response” team for medical calls, leaving Engines and Trucks available for a structure fire or a vehicle accident that may require use of the jaws of life or other specialized equipment.
Revenue from a sales tax, 100% of which would stay local, could also allow us the opportunity to move up the time frame to build Station 7 on the north end of the city. The area north of Shepard Ave has started to develop and residents are moving in.
Historically, we have not been able to build Fire Stations in new construction areas of town until there is a 60% build out of the master plan for the area. As we saw with Loma Vista, that area began to develop in the early 2000s and it was not until 2022 that Fire Station 6 was opened to serve that area.
I would like to finish with this: The Clovis Way of Life is not just a slogan, it is a standard. Our residents deserve the best of everything we can give them as a city. As residents of Clovis, we need to think about what the Clovis Way of Life means to us. Think about the reasons why you moved to Clovis. Think about the things that have been afforded to you along the way, and decide if you want to keep it that way.
Decide if you want to afford that same opportunity to your kids and your grandkids. Decide if you want to keep Clovis, Clovis. While we have grown in population and size, we still have a small-town feel. Personally, I enjoy that. I want my two sons to want to raise their families here. I want them to be able to go out and play and feel safe, like my childhood.
I want them to grow up, and years from now, see many of the familiar faces they have seen through life growing up here. We can maintain that. We can continue to be one of the top cities to raise a family. But we will need to band together and do what is necessary to maintain that. A one percent sales tax increase for the City of Clovis would all stay, and be spent, in Clovis.
That is why the Clovis Firefighters Association supports Measure Y. We are asking you to vote Yes on Measure Y as well. We look forward to continuing to serve our community in the most professional and efficient manner.