About Us
The North Sonoma Coast Fire Protection District serves the very northwestern corner of Sonoma County. We serve primarily the communities of The Sea Ranch, Annapolis, and Stewarts Point and all residents within the boundaries of the district as shown in the map on this page. To the east, our neighbor district is the similarly-named Northern Sonoma County FPD (formerly Geyserville FPD). To the north in Mendocino County we have South Coast and Redwood Coast FPDs. To the south, Timber Cove FPD, and Fort Ross VFC.
NSCFPD is a Fire Protection District, a particular type of Special District in California. FPDs are governed by the Fire District Law of 1987 and subject to the provisions of the “Brown Act”. An elected five-member Board of Directors oversees the management of the District.
The primary funding source for NSCFPD is from property taxes paid by all property owners within this service area. Important secondary sources of funding are your contributions to the district and the fund-raising activities organized by the non-profit organization North Sonoma Coast Volunteer Firefighter Association. Read More about our funding here.
The NSCFPD company is composed of highly trained and motivated volunteers who live and/or work in the district. One of your neighbors may be a volunteer firefighter; the only way you might know is by the odd hours he or she may race out of the driveway to head for the fire station.
Our volunteers are of many ages (most older than you might think), from many different backgrounds and professions. The things that we have in common are a desire to help our neighbors in times of need and a passion for learning and then using the skills required to perform emergency service, as part of a dedicated team.
The Volunteer Fire Department is led by Fire Chief Bonnie Plakos and Assistant Fire Chief Chuck Breier, along with Fire Captains Chris Aitchison, Paul Plakos and Phil Martin. At present we have 17 active firefighters, including the officers, and 5 “support” members (who provide non-firefighting tasks to the department). We are always looking for more colleagues! If interested please read the Join Us page for more information.
Volunteers participate in many hours of training to equip themselves for the jobs they do in NSCFPD. Some members are Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), others have special training in driving and operating the fire apparatus and still others may have training in rescue techniques, vehicle extrication or other special skills. NSCFPD and CAL FIRE personnel respond together to emergency calls. The reward volunteers receive is not monetary; it is the satisfaction of helping friends and neighbors when the need arises.
CAL FIRE, under contract, provides emergency response, administrative, maintenance and training services to the Department. This contract is funded through your real property taxes. As the rural fire department for the state of California, CAL FIRE is uniquely qualified to offer broad resources to the district and to enhance the volunteers’ skills and abilities. CAL FIRE provides at least two (and often more) duty officers at all times and staffs the fire equipment located at the South Station on Annapolis Road. During fire season the South Station is enhanced by a seasonal crew of CAL FIRE wildland firefighters.
Our department is also supported by our associated nonprofit 501(c)(3), the North Sonoma Coast Volunteer Firefighter Association. Please see TSRVFD Governance & Tax History for historical details.