Farmington, a rural California town of 262 people in San Joaquin County, is facing a major fire department issue with their battalion chief recently resigning and the county launching an ad-hoc committee.
San Joaquin County supervisors Mario Gardea and Steven Ding co-chair an ad hoc committee to investigate the Farmington Fire Department. Gardea said this is one of the larger areas and districts within the county.
"It's public safety," Gardea said. "Farmington's kind of an island. I was a firefighter in Stockton. We had the ability for mutual aid to come from Lodi, from different neighboring fire departments. The response time for the neighboring fire departments in that area, there's a challenge. So to make sure we have firefighters within their district or within their area that they serve, have that ability to respond and then rely on mutual aid to come out and give them a hand to help them mitigate the emergency."
It came up as an emergency meeting in the county Board of Supervisors' last session on February 10, which resulted in a unanimous motion "to add a discussion item regarding the absence of fire administration at the Farmington Fire Protection District".
"We're just basically working on making sure that the public safety is protected," Gardea said. "So, there has been a little bit of issues with meeting quorum and having the board all there to make decisions to make sure that the Farmington Fire Department conducts regular business."
CBS News Sacramento was told within the past few weeks that Battalion Fire Chief Conni Bailey, Assistant Fire Chief John Kalebaugh, and EMS medical officer all resigned, and that Fire Chief Matt Bailey, Conni's son, is out on workers' comp.
"One of the board members, from what I understand, is now an acting fire chief," Gardea said. "He's a farmer, has got a full-time job. So, he's really stepping up and providing service to the community to fill that position, but he can't do it long term."
At the Board of Supervisors meeting, Farmington Fire Vice President Jacob Samuel spoke on behalf of the board, which is looking to add someone outside of the fire district to help with the department administration work, including payroll and paying bills, along with an acting chief.
Samuel was appointed to the board in October 2025 and admitted they've had struggles.
"I live in the community," Samuel said. "I want to make sure we have adequate coverage. That's been the concern of a lot of the people in the area, to make sure we have that adequate coverage."
In the meantime, CBS News Sacramento was told neighboring stations Escalon, Linden and Collegeville offered to help. Gardea said there are high-speed wrecks on highways through Farmington, and a lot of tourists drive through on weekends to get to the mountains.
"We just got to make sure that we have people in place to protect our citizens," Gardea said. "They're not always Farmington citizens. It could be some residents from San Francisco driving to the mountains to go snow skiing, so it's not only just the residents of Farmington. It's also the residents of, basically, Northern California."
CBS News Sacramento was told there are four paid firefighters on staff, with one in the process of being hired.
Gardea said at Farmington Fire's board meeting Monday evening, there was a job announcement for a new fire chief position in Farmington. Gardea thinks the sooner they can get a fire chief, the better.
Hence then, the article about rural san joaquin county fire department searches for acting chief after resignations was published today ( ) and is available on CBS sacramento ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Rural San Joaquin County fire department searches for acting chief after resignations )
Also on site :
- Police: Two killed in shooting at West San Jose shopping center
- Judge Rules That ICE Agents Violate the Fourth Amendment by Making Arrests While Masked
- Google’s new 1.9GW clean energy deal includes massive 100-hour battery