Citygate assisted the Menlo Park Fire Protection District elected official leadership establish an effective process to adopt strategies for multi-year service delivery. As part of this process, Citygate compared the current state of decision-making to best practices and identified gaps to assist the Board of Directors in developing draft strategic business and interaction policies.

Citygate conducted an assessment for the Menlo Park Fire Protection District on the locations of Fire Stations #3, #4, and #5 and other possible alternative or additional locations. The goal was to provide the District with independent subject matter expertise and feedback regarding the continued use of the existing locations, or best-fit alternatives, to provide the District’s Directors with planning options.

The Menlo Park Fire Protection District retained Citygate to perform a Standards of Coverage assessment for field deployment services. This study included reviewing the adequacy of the existing deployment system from the current fire station locations and generally updating the Standards of Coverage assessment. This review was the first Standards of Coverage assessment to include the impact of traffic congestion on response times. The outcome of the study has been successful. As noted in a recent news article: “The City is using maps provided by Citygate Associates, the contractor that recently helped the City update its emergency response guidelines. In particular, a map titled, ‘Structure Fire Hot Spots,’ shows two areas prone to fires — one centered at the intersection of 5th Avenue and Middlefield Road in North Fair Oaks and the other along Newbridge Street between Willow and Bay roads in East Palo Alto.”

Citygate assessed the Menlo Park Fire Protection District’s provision of fire services, which included reviewing impacts to the District’s ability to provide ladder truck services in addition to pumpers and overall staffing appropriate to the risks presented by the project.