The nonprofit that owns Bodega’s fire station has called a special meeting Thursday night to brief local residents on lease talks with Gold Ridge Fire Protection District, the agency that staffs the station and runs calls in this rural coastal corner of Sonoma County.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m. at McCaughey Hall in downtown Bodega. Only members of Response Area 87 can attend — the core Bodega community running from Watson School east to Bodega Lane, and from south of Highway 1 down to Sonoma Coast Villa.
The talks go back to a breakdown last summer. The Bodega Volunteer Fire Department — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that owns the station, the adjoining McCaughey Hall and the town’s U.S. post office building — could not reach lease terms with Gold Ridge before the old lease ran out. Gold Ridge cleared out of Station 87 on July 1, 2025. About 10 square miles went without a staffed firehouse, and volunteers had to keep their gear at home.
The nonprofit had been asking $2,000 a month, pointing to upkeep costs at the 12-year-old station, which the community built largely with donated labor and money. Gold Ridge countered with $1 a year. Chief Shepley Schroth-Cary said that figure is standard for taxpayer-funded districts, and the deal would also cover insurance, property taxes and septic and water systems on all three nonprofit-owned parcels.
A town hall at McCaughey Hall on July 7, 2025, drew about 100 people. A straw poll that night came back 60% for a $1-a-year lease, over handing the station to Gold Ridge outright. Within days, former 5th District Supervisor and Occidental attorney Eric Koenigshofer brokered a deal that kept the door open: $1 a month, or $12 a year, through June 30, 2026.
That bridge lease is now seven weeks from running out.
Under the deal, Gold Ridge brought back 24-hour staffing at Station 87 with a captain and a fire engineer. A volunteer or qualified intern can fill a third slot, with $240-a-shift pay from a stipend pool. Six full-time-equivalent positions rotate across three platoons. The nonprofit’s Type 1 and Type 3 engines and water tender stay in Bodega to the end of their useful life, and ownership shifts to Gold Ridge. Any building changes needed to house the new crews fall to Gold Ridge and need a sign-off from Permit Sonoma.
The bridge lease also sketched out a path to a longer-term deal — the topic at Thursday’s update.
The nonprofit is also reshaping itself. Members voted to rename the group the Bodega Community Fire Association. The old name no longer fits: Gold Ridge took over BVFD’s service area in 2019, and BVFD stopped fighting fires that year. The new bylaws — still in draft — spell out what the group does now. It owns the station, McCaughey Hall and the post office. It backs a roster of 15 volunteer firefighters, men and women, who still run calls alongside Gold Ridge. And it keeps fundraising.
Station 87 is Gold Ridge’s westernmost station. The Bodega area covers about 16 square miles, holds about 1,080 people, and runs roughly 130 to 140 calls a year, per a 2023 LAFCO filing. Volunteers also cover north into Sonoma County Fire’s Station 10 area, and south to Valley Ford.
Board meeting minutes go up at bodegafire.org. The board meets the second Tuesday of each month at the station.