It’s been talked about in one form or another for several years, but now a new pilot program is being put into place. The Grass Valley and Nevada City fire departments will be sharing one chief. Grass Valley Fire Chief Mark Buttron will be the head of both departments. Nevada City Fire Chief Sam Goodspeed will become a division chief for both departments. Goodspeed has been serving on an engine in addition to running the Nevada City department. A Grass Valley firefighter will be used to fill that position. Buttron, says the move makes sense…

Listen to Mark Buttron 1

The Nevada City department only has one fire station, and six firefighters. Buttron says fire service to the community stays the same, and each department keeps its identity…

Listen to Mark Buttron 2

A deal for the Grass Valley, Nevada City, Penn Valley, and Nevada County Consolidated District departments to share a chief fell through in 2014. Both the Grass Valley and Nevada City city managers signed off on the plan, and the city councils approved it this week. Buttron says the new shared administrative service will start sometime in August, and will be tried for a year.

–gf