Belmont's New Fire Department Swears In 24 Firefighters

BELMONT (KCBS) -- Twenty-four firefighters were sworn in to the new Belmont Fire Department at a Saturday morning City Hall ceremony. This marks the end to a 32-year partnership between Belmont and the City of San Carlos.

All 24 firefighters had worked for the joint department.

KCBS' Anna Duckworth Reports:

Belmont Fire Chief Doug Frye said the city approved breaking the partnership with San Carlos over issues of how funding was shared so they decided to re-establish their stand-alone entity.

Frye said they need to be as cost efficient as ever.

"As difficult as it is to have a percentage of the firefighters go out to San Carlos, these guys will still see calls, you'll still be able to communicate with them, but it's an opportunity for us to do something larger," he said.

John Tarantino was hired 20 years ago by San Carlos and had a choice on where to go. Ultimately he decided on Belmont even though the new plan calls for a 10 percent or more pay reduction and less benefits than before.

"It was important to me to be a part of Belmont and to be a part of hazmat and just to be a part of what's going on in the city of Belmont," Tarantino said.

According to Frye the $6 million annual cost of running the department is about the same as before but he feels there will be a higher level of service with all the resources in town.

The San Carlos Fire Department is now teamed up with Redwood City.

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