The new helicopter, which would cost $20 million, is capable of dropping nearly three times the water of the city’s current choppers — 1,000 gallons versus 375 gallons.

Having three choppers instead of two would also ensure the city has at least two available at all times, said Fire-Rescue Chief Brian Fennessy, explaining that the choppers are frequently out of service for maintenance and repairs.

The hangar, which would cost $13.7 million, would reduce rust and corrosion on the choppers and allow maintenance to be conducted indoors. The city now stores its firefighting choppers outdoors at Montgomery-Gibbs.

The 12,999-square-foot station includes pods for each company within the fire department, explained David Slattery, of Slattery Tackett Architects, LLP, the architectural firm that designed the building. For example, emergency medical responders and the ladder company each would have a pod.  

Brawner compared it to a college dorm room with a sitting area and then bedrooms in a suite. That will provide individual privacy, he added, noting the responders include men and women. "With our alerting system, we need to go only to the area that will be notified and not have to wake up everyone else - only the one that's needed," said Brawner.

In California, state firefighting crews have applied 15.3 million gallons of chemical fire retardants so far this year, according to data provided by CalFire, the state’s wildland firefighting agency. That’s a new record, and double the amount used just three years ago.  

CalFire applied 2.7 million gallons of retardant in a single one-week period starting October 9 – also a record. Of that amount, about 2 million gallons were used on the North Bay wildfires, which killed 43 people and burned more than 8,000 structures in October as they swept across several counties north of the San Francisco Bay Area, including Sonoma and Napa.