County to lease facilities at Los Guilicos Campus to CAL FIRE as year-round fire base

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors today authorized a three-year lease agreement with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) for use of facilities at the Los Guilicos Campus for a year-round fire base. 

The lease will support the County’s fire prevention and response needs, support the Board’s Strategic Resilient Infrastructure pillar and make use of unused and underutilized space at the Los Guilicos campus located at 538 Eliza Way in Santa Rosa. The presence of CAL FIRE personnel and equipment in the Los Guilicos area will significantly improve response times and resources in the event of wildfire or other emergencies. 

“It is exciting to see the unused facilities at the Los Guilicos campus put to such good use for the community,” said Supervisor Susan Gorin, who represents the Sonoma Valley on the Board of Supervisors. “The CAL FIRE camp will provide the valley and County as a whole an additional critical resource in building fire protection.” 

The site will provide one acre of outdoor space and more than 10,000 square feet of indoor multi-use building space including the former Sierra Youth Center building, the former classroom/multi-use building, adjacent parking area, court and yard.

The site would be CAL FIRE’s first fire camp in Sonoma County since the 1990s. A firefighting team is expected to occupy the camp during fire season, which lasts about nine months a year, and a fuel abatement team would occupy it during the wet season, about three months a year. The state will pay for ongoing maintenance, utility and janitorial costs as well as any tenant improvements. 

“As a Tubbs Fire survivor, I am so grateful to CAL FIRE and the County’s real estate team – the more fire resources in the county the better,” said Caroline Judy, director of the General Services Department.

“Sonoma County residents are no strangers to our region’s wildfire threat. Establishing this fire camp provides an important link in the chain of partnership and responsibility that we as a community must be committed to as a unit of wildfire resiliency,” said Supervisor James Gore, chair of the Board of Supervisors.

CAL FIRE plans to occupy the space in the late spring of 2022. The lease agreement will end March 31, 2025.

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Contact Information:
Carly Cabrera
Supervising County Communications Specialist 
County of Sonoma
707-565-3040
publicaffairs@sonoma-county.org