SMC Fire maintains three apparatus provided by and committed to the California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System, coordinated by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). These resources deploy statewide to support wildland and all-risk incidents beyond the capacity of any single local jurisdiction, reflecting the department's role in California's long-standing mutual aid tradition — a system built on the principle that neighboring agencies assist one another when an incident exceeds local resources. 

Committed Apparatus

• Engine 2609 and Engine 2610 (Type 6 Engines) — Compact, four-wheel-drive wildland engines built for off-road maneuverability and initial attack on vegetation fires. Each carries a smaller water tank and pump than a structure engine, and is suited to steep or brush-covered terrain that larger apparatus cannot access each with a crew of 4. 

• Engine 405 (Type 1 Engine) — A structure engine carrying a full complement of hose, a high-capacity pump, and structural firefighting equipment. Type 1 engines are typically assigned to strike teams responding to the structure-protection side of wildland-urban interface incidents with a crew of 4. 

How Deployments Work

When a requesting agency or Operational Area needs additional resources, Cal OES orders apparatus through its regional Fire and Rescue Coordinators under the California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid Plan. Engines are typically assembled into five-engine strike teams under a qualified strike team leader before being dispatched. SMC Fire's engines and personnel remain under the department's own supervision while deployed, operating within the incident command structure established at the receiving incident. 

Local Coverage During Deployments

SMC Fire is responsible for fire and emergency response coverage across San Mateo, Belmont, and Foster City.  Residents sometimes ask whether a statewide deployment affects that local coverage — it doesn't. SMC Fire maintains full local staffing at all times, and daily station coverage is never reduced to support an OES deployment. Personnel and apparatus committed to mutual aid are managed separately from the department's minimum daily staffing, so the public will never see a reduction in local service — response times, station coverage, and day-to-day operations remain unchanged whether or not SMC Fire has resources committed to a statewide incident. 

How Deployments Are Funded

Mutual aid deployments ordered under the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA) are eligible for reimbursement through Cal OES's Mutual Aid Reimbursement System (MARS), a statewide platform that processes cost recovery for personnel, apparatus, and associated expenses. Reimbursement rates and timelines are set by Cal OES and can vary with the funding source behind a given incident — state disaster funding, a Fire Management Assistance Grant, or a federal declaration. This reimbursement structure allows SMC Fire to support statewide emergencies without permanently drawing down funding intended for local service delivery, though rate changes at the state and federal level periodically affect how fully deployment costs are recovered. 

Historical Deployments

SMC Fire has deployed engines and personnel to many of California's largest and most destructive wildland fires, including the Camp Fire (2018), Kincade Fire (2019), August Complex (2020), Dixie Fire (2021), Caldor Fire (2021), and the Palisades and Eaton Fires (2025). The department has also deployed out of state, supporting wildland fire response efforts in Oregon, Washington, and Montana under interstate mutual aid agreements such as the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC).