It’s official: SLO County is responsible for Oceano’s fire services. How will coverage work?
As 2025 gets underway, San Luis Obispo County is assuming responsibility for fire protection in Oceano through a new agreement with the Five Cities Fire Authority.
Effective Wednesday, residents of the town of Oceano will continue to receive their fire services from the Five Cities Fire Authority, using nearby stations in Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande to provide coverage — but the Oceano Community Services District will no longer be on the hook for those services.
Though the FCFA has historically provided fire coverage to Oceano, that was through the Oceano CSD’s continued participation in a joint powers authority with the cities of Arroyo Grande and Grover Beach. Now, the county will be the contractor providing FCFA coverage for Oceano.
The move was formally approved by San Luis Obispo County’s Local Agency Formation Commission Dec. 19, officially divesting the Oceano CSD from the responsibility to provide fire services.
The divestiture marks the end of a lengthy debate over how to keep the residents of Oceano protected in the event of a fire — something that was not a given as the end of 2024 loomed.
“The primary reason we needed to get this on the agenda for today to certify the results of the protest period is so that we can ensure that fire protection services for the community of Oceano commence on Jan. 1,” LAFCO executive office Rob Fitzroy said during the Dec. 19 approval meeting.
According to the county staff report, the divestiture will cost the Oceano CSD a total of $2.5 million in the form of a one-time transfer of impact fees, rent revenue, property tax revenue and general fund revenue, effective Wednesday.
No protests were received by LAFCO ahead of the Dec. 19 hearing, though the topic has been in contention for several years.
Oceano voters denied flat parcel taxes of $180 per parcel owner to cover the cost of rapid response times from the Five Cities Fire Authority.
After the tax measures were narrowly denied in 2020 and 2022, the Oceano CSD exited the joint powers authority for fire services that it was part of alongside its neighboring South County cities.
The existing fire station in Oceano is not currently in operation and will not be activated under the new coverage plan.
Under the new agreement, the FCFA will provide a minimum of two personnel per engine for responses from the Arroyo Grande fire station, which is expected to respond to emergencies in around seven to 11 minutes, while the Grover Beach station should be capable of responding within seven to nine minutes, according to the staff report.
