The Riverside Fire Department requires significant changes, beginning with the addition of 84 firefighters, according to a comprehensive report by consulting firm AT Triton. The 550-page study, released on January 13 and based on data from 2020 to 2025, found that the department has not kept pace with increasing demand for emergency services.
Currently, the department employs 225 firefighters, the same number as seven years ago. Since its last fire station was built in 2007, service calls have increased by about 72 percent. Despite averaging one emergency call every 11 minutes, frontline staffing has not increased in seven years.
AT Triton’s projections indicate that annual call volume could reach 71,000 by 2035 and rise to 83,000 by 2040. Without more staff and resources, the department may face longer response times and frequent system overloads.
The report recommends reducing response times from seven minutes and eighteen seconds to six minutes to improve outcomes during emergencies. “We have an extraordinarily talented and very devoted department,” said Fire Chief Steve McKinster. “But the trend lines are impossible to ignore. We must take seriously the challenges we are facing.”
Adding 84 firefighters would bring Riverside’s ratio to about 0.95 firefighters per 1,000 residents—still below other California cities such as Corona, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena, and Glendale. The national average is currently at 1.35 per 1,000 residents.
Riverside’s population now stands at approximately 323,000 and has grown by around 2.6 percent since 2020. This growth increases wildfire risk as urban development encroaches on fire-prone areas and introduces new ignition sources like power lines.
Recent state fire maps identified over 13,000 additional parcels in Riverside as high-risk for wildfires. “We know that wildfire season is year-round now,” said Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson. “We no longer have significant fires a few months of the year; they now come at any time.”
Chief McKinster requested an external review after becoming chief in October 2024: “Based on everything I know about the department, I wasn’t surprised,” he said regarding the findings. “I’ve worked here for 27 years, so it was pretty much what I expected to hear. I felt like we needed an outside consultant to say that.”
He also noted how departments fall behind gradually when demand exceeds capacity or when outdated systems persist: “If we do not act, (eventually) we will not be able to deliver the level of service that the community expects and deserves.”
The city council accepted the study’s findings but did not discuss funding options for implementing recommendations estimated at nearly $300 million through two phases ending in 2040.
Riverside Fire’s current operating budget is $86.2 million—a rise of fifteen percent over five years—and relies heavily on Measure Z sales tax revenue approved in 2016 and set to expire in 2036.
Councilman Chuck Conder endorsed the report: “This master plan wasn’t done by a couple of guys over the weekend,” he said. “This a strategic dive into the past, present, and future of the department. It clearly shows that we need more personnel.” He added: “Some people might say we should kick the can down the road…but I don’t think so. In the meantime people could get hurt; people could die.”
Mayor Lock Dawson concluded: “We’ve got some work to do.”
