City of Morgan Hill Public Safety Master Plan

FIGURE 5-4: City and District Station Locations and Travel Times (blue = 480 seconds)

Figure 5-2 shows that approximately 70 percent of the developed areas of the city are covered under the 240-second benchmark. We estimate that approximately 95 percent of the developed area of the city is covered under the 360-second overlay and more than 100 percent is covered under the 480-second benchmark. The majority of the city, the commercial, and the more built-upon areas are well within the 240- and 360-second benchmarks. This is confirmed by the information in Table 5-2 showing 90th percentile travel times; it can be seen that more than 90 percent of the calls handled by CAL FIRE within Morgan Hill result in a travel time of six minutes or less (360 seconds). Assessing the coverages in the District is much more difficult to determine given the larger service areas and the limited number of fire stations serving these areas. However, when looking at the actual call distribution, which generally relates to the population concentrations in the District, the level of coverage is generally acceptable. It is, however, important to note that these travel time distances do not take into consideration alarm handling and turn-out times. The maps in Figures 5-2, 5-3, and 5-4 only depict travel distances and not actual response times. Figures 5-5, 5-6, and 5-7 show the actual locations of fire and other emergency responses carried out by CAL FIRE. It is apparent that most responses in Morgan Hill are within four to five minutes of travel time from the municipal fire stations. This graphic also reveals that there are a number of call-generating points that are outside the city limits, east and west of the Highway 101 corridor, and which are at the farthest limits of the 480-second travel distance. It is also very apparent that the mutual aid and automatic aid agreements with Gilroy and San Jose are critical in providing both fire and EMS response in the northern and southern stretches of the District boundaries. Also apparent is the limited call activity along Pacheco Pass Highway, east of Gilroy, and the appropriateness of the Amador Agreement that serves this area.

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