The Southern Marin Fire Protection District (SMFPD) is an independent special district in Marin County, California, formed in 1999 through the merger of the Alto-Richardson and Tamalpais Fire Protection Districts. Its service area has since expanded to include Sausalito (2012), the Marin Headlands and Fort Baker (2010), and the City of Mill Valley (2023). The district now covers about 25.3 square miles and serves roughly 41,500 residents across Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tamalpais Valley, Almonte, Homestead Valley, Alto, Strawberry, parts of Tiburon, and surrounding open space areas.
SMFPD operates with around 90–95 full-time employees, including chiefs, fire captains, engineers, firefighter-paramedics, and administrative staff. Services include fire suppression, emergency medical services, water rescue (fire boat and rescue craft), urban search and rescue, hazardous materials response, and wildfire prevention. The district is divided into zones, each with unique risks, ranging from steep wildland-urban interface hillsides to flood-prone lowlands.
Governance is provided by a seven-member elected Board of Directors. The district emphasizes wildfire preparedness, vegetation management, defensible space, and home hardening, alongside community emergency readiness for wildfires, storms, flooding, and evacuations.
I challenge anyone to find a worse administration than this one. Want to work here? Get used to fighting four lawyers during negotiations, watching unqualified friends of admin get promoted, and if you haven’t been investigated yet you will be. The chiefs play dumb, then spent over $1M on legal fees fighting us this year. It is probably why two candidates show for three openings. You can try to complain to the board of directors, but the chief controls them.
The area is beautiful and the residents support the FD. Morale is at a breaking point though because of the constant BS going on at the top. Firefighters shouldn’t have to fight this hard for mediocrity, and they shouldn’t have to fight to get mold out of the stations, yet there we were.
Outside of the boots on the ground, the one area that shines is the equipment and resources. High quality Pierce rigs, well stocked rescue tools, and maritime response equipment is all top notch. Lots of opportunities for regional teams and wildland season assignments.
48/96 schedule, and staffing is 3.0 with 4.0 when an engine is dropped to cross staff specialty equipment like the rescue, truck, and boat. OT is nearly constant, and can get heavy during fire season. It’s all good until they try and use the reimbursed OT costs against you in negotiations.
The coworkers are great as are the rigs, but steer clear of this place unless you want to have to fight for scraps every couple of years.
Administration operates through intimidation and incompetence. Negotiations are run by lawyers who obstruct progress and inflate costs. Leadership positions are handed to insiders without qualifications. Investigations are weaponized to control staff. Over a million dollars in legal fees have been wasted fighting the workforce. Recruitment has collapsed because candidates recognize dysfunction. The Board provides no oversight; the Chief dictates all outcomes.
Operations succeed only because line personnel refuse to fail. Firefighters maintain standards in spite of leadership, not because of it. Morale is near collapse from years of neglect, retaliation, and indifference. Health and safety issues, including mold in stations, are ignored until exposure becomes unavoidable.
As stated above, Overtime is constant and later exploited against employees in bargaining.
The workforce carries the department. Administration drains it. Until accountability replaces arrogance, this organization will continue to waste money, talent, and credibility.
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2 Reviews on “Southern Marin Fire District”
I challenge anyone to find a worse administration than this one. Want to work here? Get used to fighting four lawyers during negotiations, watching unqualified friends of admin get promoted, and if you haven’t been investigated yet you will be. The chiefs play dumb, then spent over $1M on legal fees fighting us this year. It is probably why two candidates show for three openings. You can try to complain to the board of directors, but the chief controls them.
The area is beautiful and the residents support the FD. Morale is at a breaking point though because of the constant BS going on at the top. Firefighters shouldn’t have to fight this hard for mediocrity, and they shouldn’t have to fight to get mold out of the stations, yet there we were.
Outside of the boots on the ground, the one area that shines is the equipment and resources. High quality Pierce rigs, well stocked rescue tools, and maritime response equipment is all top notch. Lots of opportunities for regional teams and wildland season assignments.
48/96 schedule, and staffing is 3.0 with 4.0 when an engine is dropped to cross staff specialty equipment like the rescue, truck, and boat. OT is nearly constant, and can get heavy during fire season. It’s all good until they try and use the reimbursed OT costs against you in negotiations.
The coworkers are great as are the rigs, but steer clear of this place unless you want to have to fight for scraps every couple of years.
Administration operates through intimidation and incompetence. Negotiations are run by lawyers who obstruct progress and inflate costs. Leadership positions are handed to insiders without qualifications. Investigations are weaponized to control staff. Over a million dollars in legal fees have been wasted fighting the workforce. Recruitment has collapsed because candidates recognize dysfunction. The Board provides no oversight; the Chief dictates all outcomes.
Operations succeed only because line personnel refuse to fail. Firefighters maintain standards in spite of leadership, not because of it. Morale is near collapse from years of neglect, retaliation, and indifference. Health and safety issues, including mold in stations, are ignored until exposure becomes unavoidable.
As stated above, Overtime is constant and later exploited against employees in bargaining.
The workforce carries the department. Administration drains it. Until accountability replaces arrogance, this organization will continue to waste money, talent, and credibility.