Service Area.

SCVFD provides a critical safety net to Cal Fire and Santa Clara County Fire Department in serving the needs of our community. We are often first on scene of an emergency event, providing necessary and time-critical aid in a fire, vehicle or bicycle accident, heart or asthma attack, or many other circumstances that warrant a 911 call. 

The Cal Fire Station 23, where SCVFD trains and garages its Engine #E911, is ideally located on the Stevens Canyon Reservoir, poised to serve residents of Stevens Canyon and Montebello Ridge. When there is a major fire elsewhere in the State, however, the Station is vacant. During busy fire seasons, Station 23 can be vacant most of the time. Santa Clara County Fire also serves our area. In the city, they are required to respond within 8 to 10 minutes; however, in our area, they have no such requirements. Therefore, response time could be as long as 45 minutes or longer to reach some of our areas at the top of Montebello or deeper into Stevens Canyon.

If Santa Clara County Fire is not available because they have been called to another emergency, they will send a secondary engine that will prolong their response time even further. With the distance they are required to travel to get to the top of Montebello Road, for example, or given the haphazard way in which our addresses are configured, they are often unable to meet a timely response. Over the last 40 years, SCVFD has filled in that critical time gap and served as first responders. As a result, SCVFD saves lives and property.