It goes without saying, the best time to take sound steps to protect your house from fire is when your house is not on fire.

It is why the city needs to do more in the wake of the passage of the temporary 20-year sales tax than to simply do the obvious.

Manteca’s leaders in the coming months are expected to take several steps to enhance the protection of life and property via the city’s fire department.

On the table include:

*the need to step up replacement of aging and problematic front-line fire engines.

*continue taking steps to secure a site and build a fire station in southwest Manteca.

*start to staff a sixth engine company.

Those are three obvious needs that must be tackled.

But beyond that, there needs to be some serious thought given to options that might exist to possibly find even more effective and cost effective ways to protect a city of 93,000 likely to have 130,000 residents when Measure Q expires.

It doesn’t necessarily mean committing to a specific course of action.

But it does mean exploring broad options — without the help of for-hire consultants — by exploring frontline knowledge and employing common sense could set in motion plans that takes Manteca’s fire service to the next level.

Three things that come to mind:

*Partnering with Manteca District Ambulance to possibly house an ambulance and crew at future fire stations.

*Rethinking the boundaries and/or relationship with the Lathrop Manteca Fire District.

*Looking at ways of minimizing specialized equipment wear and tear.

First, looking at options with the ambulance district.

Everyone agrees Manteca is blessed with a top-notch non-profit ambulance services that is effective in terms of care and is well-managed.

It is not in the city’s best interests to get into the paramedic business and definitely not transporting patients.

There is no reason to do so.

And the cost factor isn’t cheap as there are a multitude of expenses involved that includes insurance.

But it is in the city’s best interest if the Manteca District Ambulance is able to locate crews and rigs in a manner that cuts down response time when units are “stationed”.

With two locations — one on North Airport Way and one on Center Street — the ambulance district is fairly well situated to serve the manner in which Manteca has grown to 93,000 residents.

But that likely won’t be the case with 130,000 or so residents 20 years from now.

The question needs to be asked: Would it make sense to provide space and quarters for the ambulance district in future fire stations or in some other manner?

As far as the city’s relationship with Lathrop Manteca Fire District, as Manteca grows to the south and the northeast the two existing “rural” stations on Lathrop Road and Union Road will clearly have a larger percentage of calls within the city.

There are a lot of ways of addressing this to keep both entities whole and to make sure Manteca residents have top-notch fire service and at the same time raising the game a notch or two in the rural areas.

Manteca could look at funding in the future to assure 24/7 three-man staffing at one or both stations.

In the case of the rural station on South Union Road next to Nile Garden School, the city could avoid the need for a third city fire station — besides the one at Atherton/Woodward and the proposed southwest Manteca station — until such time Austin Road Business Park is built and reaches a critical mass.

The city, in such a scenario, would write a check to Lathrop Manteca Fire Disctrict to fund the third firefighter on the engine company.

That’s just one option to ponder in assessing whether the current relationship between the city fire department and the fire district provides the maximum effective protection for people and property both in the county and in the city.

The third area is to see whether it makes sense to deploy specialized equipment differently.

Manteca just took delivery of a $2 million tiller truck.

You definitely want to dispatch it to structure fires but given the vast majority of calls for service are medically related, does it make sense to add to the wear and tear of the tiller truck if you could dispatch a crew cab style rescue truck instead?

Yes, there is specialized rescue equipment on a tiller truck that can’t be carried on other engines.

But is it needed for heart attacks?

There are clearly considerations that must be weighed.

Firefighters may argue they are at a disadvantage if a fire call comes in while they are finishing up a medical call and they are the closest “engine company” but their engine is back at the station.

How often is that call when they are out on another call is actually another medical call and not a fire based call. Data may show that spending $300,000 in a rescue unit to garage with the tiller truck might squeeze substantially more frontline years out of the $2 million truck.

Whether it is penny wise and pound foolish is a legitimate argument to perhaps shut down such an exploration.

But given where Manteca has been pushing its luck in recent years, it might be a smart strategy to effectively stretch dollars to assure the city is able to keep the best equipment possible rolling out of fire stations when the 9-1-1 calls come in.

In the end, none of what is suggested may make sense when it comes to improving emergency services.

But simply doing the same thing over and over again without making sure it is right specifically for Manteca doesn’t make sense either.

Best practices carry a lot of weight.

But they may have to be tweaked somewhat if after you step back and take a look at what you’re doing you see a better way to deliver the best possible protection when it comes to property and lives.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com