To: Board of Supervisors
From: Lewis Broschard, Chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District
Report Title: Agreement with the State of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to become a Cooperator with the Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) Aircraft Program
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Acting as the governing board of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Fire Chief, or designee, to execute a cooperative agreement with the State of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to become a Cooperator with the Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) Aircraft Program for the term December 15, 2025 through December 15, 2030 for the purpose of screening and borrowing federal excess property for primary use in activities directly related to wildland fire aviation-based fire protection.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The execution of this agreement does not have a fiscal impact. Should the District choose to acquire aviation equipment or aircraft under this agreement there may be costs associated with that particular procurement, which will need to be evaluated and budgeted for at a future date. In some cases, the acquisition of equipment will be at no cost to the District.
BACKGROUND:
The State of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) is an approved agent of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service for administering Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) as part of the Cooperative Fire Protection Program, which allows the Cooperators to take custody and use FEPP property for wildland and rural community fire protection services. This program includes the potential for assignment or transfer of aviation assets, including helicopters, to the District for use in carrying out its wildland fire suppression mission.
Participation in this program will allow the District to access excess federal property at little to no cost to the District, providing significant cost savings and potentially significant benefit to the current aviation program which provides a firefighting helicopter for the benefit of the entire county during the summer fire season. This program is particularly valuable for the District in the aviation program where aviation equipment normally comes with a high investment.
In the past, the District has benefitted from its participation in the non-aviation FEPP program with the acquisition of a Grade-All forklift currently in use at the District training campus, towable emergency generators, logistics trailers, and a skid steer used in the heavy equipment. All of this equipment was made available to the District at no cost.
The District currently contracts for aerial firefighting services, which includes the requirement for the contractor to provide the aircraft, pilots, and maintenance personnel. In some cases it may be more cost effective for the District to provide the aircraft itself, with a contractor providing just the pilots and maintenance personnel. As the District contemplates and investigates options for the future of our wildland aviation program, the District may seek to acquire helicopters and associated aviation equipment for the suppression of wildland fires in the county through the FEPP program at a significantly reduced cost.
The approval of this item does not constitute approval for the District to acquire aircraft through this program. Any potential acquisition of a helicopter through this program would require board approval prior to execution of the transfer agreement. A thorough program cost analysis would need to be conducted and presented to the Board as part of any acquisition consideration in the future.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The District will not be able to enter into a cooperative agreement with CAL FIRE and will not be able to acquire federal excess property through the Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) Aircraft Program.