Town Square

Post a New Topic

Sprinkler discussions pushed back

Original post made on Jan 9, 2010

Discussion on two hot-button issues in Menlo Park involving fire sprinklers and lawn watering has been pushed to the Jan. 26 City Council agenda.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, January 8, 2010, 5:51 PM

Comments (6)

Posted by Pro Sprinklers
a resident of Atherton: West Atherton
on Jan 9, 2010 at 1:19 pm

Residential sprinklers saves lives ! Water efficient landscaping is just is important, but not life saving..The council should pass the ordinance hands down & move forward the landscaping issues !! When
was the last time a spirinkled yard saved a life !!!!!


Posted by Satire
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Jan 9, 2010 at 2:15 pm

Sadly, you will probably get your wish.


Posted by Experienced
a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park
on Jan 11, 2010 at 4:44 pm

Good. Push it back indefinitely. We don't need residential firesprinklers or the enormous, expensive bureaucracy it takes to enforce and monitor their installation.

Has anyone looked at the new fire district headquarters on Middlefield Road and the number of people on the payroll there? They aren't fighting fires. But most of them retire between 50 and 55.

The fire sprinkler and alarm companies are also swamped with business protecting us from ourselves. As one of the earlier writers commented, this is a fire district/industrial complex.


Posted by ever noticed?
a resident of Menlo Park: South of Seminary/Vintage Oaks
on Jan 12, 2010 at 4:44 pm



For a little perspective, the Fire district budget is over $30 million per year, of which about three quarters goes to salary and compensation. in a typical year, we have about 1/2 to 1 million in fire damage, probably an overestimate for insurance purposes. Seems like a good deal, $30 million for a glorified EMS service.

Also, on average, towns and counties covered by Fire district get their protection at about twice the cost as jurisdiction covered by Fire departments. It's simple, departments have to compete for budget dollars with police, streets and libraries, districts do not.


Posted by Peter Carpenter
a resident of Atherton: Lindenwood
on Jan 12, 2010 at 7:03 pm

Peter Carpenter is a registered user.

The Fire District was established before and serves the communities of Menlo Park, Atherton and East Palo Alto (plus some unincorporated areas of San Mateo County).

Please explain how having three separate fire departments would be less expensive than one?


Posted by Peter Carpenter
a resident of Atherton: Lindenwood
on Jan 12, 2010 at 7:14 pm

Peter Carpenter is a registered user.

ever noticed states:

"Also, on average, towns and counties covered by Fire district get their protection at about twice the cost as jurisdiction covered by Fire departments."

Data and sources please - I think you are very wrong.


Don't miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.

Email:


Post a comment

On Wednesday, we'll be launching a new website. To prepare and make sure all our content is available on the new platform, commenting on stories and in TownSquare has been disabled. When the new site is online, past comments will be available to be seen and we'll reinstate the ability to comment. We appreciate your patience while we make this transition..

Stay informed.

Get the day's top headlines from Almanac Online sent to your inbox in the Express newsletter.