SJFD Response Times Not Meeting County Requirements: Report

A new report given to the San Jose City Council shows the fire department’s medical emergency response times are still below standards.

Those times breach the SJFD’s contract with Santa Clara County to respond to medical calls. The contract requires firefighters to respond to those calls in less than eight minutes, 90 percent of the time.

The report shows the standard was met in just three out of the past 12 months. A third party audit states the only months above 90 percent were April, June, and July.

"They clearly haven't been able to solve the problem," County Supervisor Dave Cortese said.

County Supervisor and San Jose Mayoral Candidate Dave Cortese says the problem has continued for two years. In February, the Board of Supervisors voted to withhold money from the department until it met the standard for three consecutive months.

"I think the board had no choice but to hold that money back as an incentive for San Jose to get their act together," Cortese said.

"The citizens of San Jose are calling 9-1-1 and no one is responding (anywhere) in a timely manner or not at all," said Jose Guerrero, Vice President of IAFF Local 230 Firefighters.

Guerrero says low staffing levels and shuttered fire stations are to blame. He says until the city pays competitive wages to keep firefighters, it won't happen.

"It's very difficult to comply with response times when we don't have the boots on the ground that we need," he said.

The county has continued to withhold funding after these new numbers were released. Cortese says that could change if they think it would help.

"I'm confident the board will want to take another look at it based on this report and figure out what kind of next steps we need to take," Cortese said.

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