Nine people are running for four seats on the Gold Ridge Fire Protection District board, including four incumbents. In this election, voters across West County have the opportunity to select board members for the District, which has grown by merging with other volunteer fire departments in Sonoma County. Some of those wanting to serve on the board hope to represent rural communities that are now part of the consolidated district.
While all the candidates have experience in fire service as volunteers and/or professional firefighters, four of those running for the board are women, all who have worked professionally in fire departments in the Bay Area.
The nine candidates, in alphabetical order, are:
Domenico Carinalli (incumbent)
Tara Daniels
Christina Gibbs
Kathleen Molloy Gilbraith
Robert Gloeckner (incumbent)
Doug Jones
Stephen Petrucci (incumbent)
Shannon J Shaffer-Killey
Dave Warbug (incumbent)
(The seven-member board also includes those who were elected in 2024: Stacey Gambonini, Charles Lachman and Chris Tachouet. Their terms expire in 2028.)
About Gold Ridge Fire District
The Gold Ridge Fire Protection District covers about 300 square miles in western Sonoma County with its headquarters located at the Hessel Road station. The district was formed in 1993 when the Hessel and Twin Hill fire departments merged its three fire stations located in Hessel, Twin Hills and Freestone. In 2023, the volunteer fire departments that were part of CSA 40 (Fort Ross, Camp Meeker, Bodega, Valley Ford, Bloomfield, Two Rock, Wilmar, San Antonio and Lakeville) merged into Gold Ridge.
The consolidation of the Sebastopol City Fire Deparment into the Gold Ridge Fire District followed a February 4, 2025 vote by the City Council. The Sebastopol Times’s story on the consolidation quoted the City Manager at the time, Don Schwarz, who said the move would save the City about a million dollars a year. The merger came with a new parcel tax of approximately $265 per residence for homeowners and a higher rate for commercial properties.
Monte Rio Fire District with its three stations in Monte Rio, Duncan’s Mills and Jenner merged into Gold Ridge in 2025.
The District now has a total of 12 fire stations: Lakeville and Wilmar in Petaluma, Valley Ford and Two Rock, Fort Ross in Cazadero; near the Russian River in Monte Rio and Camp Meeker; along or near Bodega Highway (Sebastopol, Freestone, Bodega and Twin Hills) and Hwy 116 South (Hessel and Bloomfield). Six of the 12 stations are staffed full-time, and the other six are staffed by volunteers.
The district-wide parcel tax across its 11 areas of Sonoma County has transformed the Gold Ridge Fire District. The District board approved a 2026-2027 budget $24M. It’s 2023-2024 budget was $9.2M. There are 56 paid staff in fire suppression, which includes firefighters, engineers (drivers of the fire engines), captains, two deputy chiefs and three administrative staff. The Fire Chief is Shepley Schroth-Cary, who has been with the District since 1994. There are about 80 volunteer firefighters across the district.
Candidate Profiles
Sebastopol Times reached out to all the candidates by email with a few questions about their experience and background, how well the merger with Sebastopol Fire was going, and what their priorities were for the District. Other than the Sonoma County Voter Information Guide, there isn’t a lot of information online about the candidates. This article provides an opportunity for the candidates to speak in their own words about the issues shaping the District and its services.
Gold Ridge Professional Firefighters Association, Local 1401, which represents firefighters in the District, endorsed Christina Gibbs, Shannon Shaffer-Killey, Kathleen Molloy Gilbraith and Bob Gloeckner. It is worth noting that the union local chose to endorse only one of the four current board members.
David Warburg (incumbent)
Dave Warburg lives near the Twin Hill station. He moved to Sebastopol about 35 years ago from Connecticut, where he had been a volunteer firefighter. He began volunteering at Gold Ridge Fire Department prior to consolidation. Dave said that he was asked to join the board about “five or six years ago.”
“Fire service is notoriously slow to change,” he said. “I helped expedite some of it, but I handled it very gently because I don’t wanna step on toes.” As a board member, he was involved in the consolidation process. “I was on three or four committees that met with the various volunteer departments and their board members and put together a plan. Obviously it worked, but there’s still things that have to be worked on because some of the smaller departments found it very, very threatening. And, you know, I don’t blame them.” He mentioned his own work developing policy manuals and disaster preparations.
“One thing I will say about Gold Ridge is that the people who are working there are invested in what we’re doing. I’m not saying this just because I’m on the board. They’re invested in what’s going on. It’s just a matter of how productive they are. To me, what’s important is how do we improve what we’ve got.”
Dave sees the improvement in Sebastopol. “ (Gold Ridge firefighters) used to beat the volunteers from the station to anything that was going on in Sebastopol,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. Anyway, those days are gone. We’re getting there on time. I listen on the scanner to make sure.”
One thing that bothers him is that the County does not have an evacuation plan. “This is something that shouldn’t be ignored,” he said. He’d like to see more publicity to involve the public in disaster preparedness. “You can’t choose when a disaster is gonna happen and what people are going to do, and that’s got me really concerned.” He’d like to see more disaster planning and communication efforts county-wide to involve citizen groups.
Robert “Bob” Gloeckner (incumbent)
Bob Gloeckner has served on the board of the Gold Ridge Fire Protection District since at least 2017 and he is currently Board Chair. He worked for 30 years for the city of Petaluma as a battalion chief.
“I started as an elected director on the Hessel Fire Board, and then we eventually merged with Twin Hills, and I served on that board.” He’s been on the board through all of the subsequent mergers. “We’ve accomplished a lot and hope to do a lot more in the future.”
Gloeckner talked about the ongoing transition away from all-volunteer fire departments. “The volunteer companies for years were underfunded, and they did the very best they could with what they had to work with, and they actually did a pretty darn good job. But, as it’s become more and more difficult to get and retain volunteer firefighters, it became apparent that they needed more help. We merged with (volunteer fire departments) because they wanted to join Gold Ridge for a more reliable source of income, training and administration.”
He said that Gold Ridge has done “a lot of things to bring the volunteer companies up to more of a current standard.” He mentioned purchasing equipment, upgrading training and improving their turnout equipment and breathing apparatus. “Fort Ross has a newer water tender that we purchased for them and a Type Six, I believe, which is a small rural fire truck.”
He said that “the volunteers are just as important as ever, and we try to fund them and take care of them as best we can. They come in on calls, and they take additional fire equipment. They actually can work shifts, and they can go on strike teams. They’re paid for that.” He added that “the number of volunteers has changed over the years,” saying that it’s a national problem.
“We’ve been able to modernize some of the fire stations,” he said. “We have a current project in the town of Bodega. While the station is fairly new, they never built any quarters as dorms for sleeping, and we’d like to put some firefighters in that station. We’re getting plans approved to get some sleeping quarters there. When we meet county code, then we’ll have staffing there.
“We have plans to replace two fire stations. One would be in Lakeville, and another one would be in Monte Rio. We currently now have 24/7 staffing at Monte Rio. That was a new thing. We upped it to three people on duty every day, 24/7.”
He said that Sebastopol “had only one or two permanent firefighters, and they worked during the daytime. Now, we have permanent 24/7 staffing at Sebastopol.” He said that a priority for the board of directors to make sure to shorten response times. “For example, Sebastopol, when they were just volunteer, their response time could range from a few minutes to 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 minutes. Today our response times are very short. People are in the station. They immediately put their turnouts on when they get a call and get on the engine and go.”
The Board reviews all response times every month. “We collect data, and so far the response times really for the paid staffed areas are really very good.”
Gloeckner said the other priority is “the wellness of our firefighters.” He said that firefighter tend “to have a much higher incidence of cancer, so we’re always supporting wellness programs for our firefighters.”
Christina Gibbs
Christina Gibbs spent “almost all my summers at my family’s house in Camp Meeker. My passion to serve others began while working for CAL FIRE Occidental Station.” In 1999, she began her career at the San Francisco Fire Department, where she was promoted to lieutenant and then captain.
“I was involved in behavioral health in the fire department for many years. I have a therapy dog named Sadie that was trained to offset the stress of firefighters.” She said she brings a lot of relevant experience. She has worked “through the merger of an ambulance division into a fire department, so I have a knowledge of expanding services as a fire department.” She believes the District is working hard to have services available throughout the district. “Expansion is a process, and I hope to help with that,” she said.
Asked about her priorities, she said: “I have a list of things I would like to see happen. My first priority is the health and safety of our firefighters. Firefighters in the US have a 14% higher rate of cancer-related deaths and a 9% higher risk of cancer diagnosis compared to the US population. We need testing for our firefighters to catch it early.” Her other priorities would be to see “the Bodega firehouse staffed full-time and expanding our intern program.”
Kathleen Molloy Gilbraith
Kathleen Molly Gilbraith served in the San Francisco Fire Department for 28 years, starting in 1995 and retiring in 2023. “I held many jobs within the fire department including: firefighter/paramedic for 20 years, inspector for 4 years, and lieutenant of inspectors for 4 years.” She has lived in Sebastopol since 2001.
Kathleen was recruited and supported by Local 1401. “When the union board member of Gold Ridge Local Firefighters’ Union 1401 asked me to have a conversation about what I believed in as a leader in my department, our views were the same. We aligned well.” She was asked to consider running for the board, but initially she said “no.”
“My thinking was a community member of one of the newly merged fire departments may be a better candidate and better represent the new department; the board members agreed. We thanked each other and wished ourselves good luck. About two months later they came and asked again, this time I had lunch with other members of the department and union and again we all had many of the same goals in mind. They asked again, would I consider; this time I said ‘yes.’”
“Initially they told me that the (current) board was not going to run and that they had decided to open up seats.” That changed at the last minute, as current board members decided to run. “By this time, I had decided to run.”
At SFFD, she worked on a merger that has “certain similarities with the mergers Gold Ridge is in the middle of. It starts with the agreement to merge,” she said. “In a way, it’s the hardest part, but it is also the easiest part. Now we have to work together and make it work for all involved, community and Fire Department workers. All of them! I am sensitive to this situation and aware that the process takes some time, but we must have a plan.” She said she is excited to be part of “creating the plan, and keeping all updated and aware of the process.”
Asked if she thought the consolidated district serves all of its communities fairly, she said: “This is a merger in progress! Does it look now like we want it to look? No… so right now, at this moment, it does not appear to be fairly distributed, but that is how it goes sometimes in the Fire Service. The ultimate goal is being fair and strong in all communities — Gold Ridge Strong!!”
Kathleen is currently a lifeguard at Ives Pool one day a week, and she volunteers at two preserves in the area, walking with 3rd-5th graders in nature, exploring and wondering.
Tara Daniels
Tara Daniels is a lifelong resident of West Sonoma County. She started out as a volunteer firefighter in the Bodega Volunteer Fire Department and now is a board member of the Bodega Community Association (formerly Bodega Volunteer Fire Department). “I have an established history of looking out for the needs of community members,” she said. She is also bilingual in Spanish, which she sees as “an asset in serving the needs of all of our community members.”
“I’ve worked as a professional firefighter for 25 years, in urban and wildland departments,” Daniels said. “As a volunteer firefighter prior to that, I understand all of the roles and dynamics present within Gold Ridge Fire Protection District’s systems. I have done a lot of budgeting, planning, and cooperating with other agencies to achieve public safety objectives.”
Daniels said her “sole motivation in running for Director is a sincere desire to help our community. My platform is based on prioritizing public safety for the entire district, as should be the #1 priority of a fire district, though I haven’t seen the same priority reflected by all other candidates.” She added that “the board needs to reflect the interests of the entire district. It needs geographical diversity. All but one other candidate live within the historical headquarters. Representation need to be diversified.”
When asked if the consolidated District has managed to serve all its areas fairly, she replied: “I do not believe that it has, and that’s part of what led me to run.” She explained: “As the district has consolidated, all new residents are paying property tax addendums to fund the district. Measure H sales tax revenue is also being allocated to each community within the district. While funding is designated to provide emergency services to the entire district, service improvements have been focused on the central and southern parts of the district, with no quantifiable improvements to public safety in the more rural areas. I believe that every resident of the district deserves fast, reliable emergency response from well-trained firefighters.”
Daniels said that she has several priorities, which are as follows:
Secure fast, reliable emergency response to all service areas within the district.
Ensure that emergency response in Sebastopol is adequate to serve the largest population within the district.
Re-establish positive working relationships with volunteer firefighters. Those relationships have been strained in recent years in some areas, such as Sebastopol, leading to a significant loss of firefighters. Volunteer firefighters are a needed component of the district’s public safety response.
Shannon Shaffer-Kiley
Shannon Shaffer-Kiley was born and raised in Bodega. “I grew up around the firehouse,” she said. “I joined in 2003 and am still an active volunteer firefighter today.” She said that her connection to West County goes beyond the firehouse. “I spent 10 years working for West County Health Centers at different locations throughout the area. Between the two, I’ve had the opportunity to work with and get to know people in many of the communities that now make up Gold Ridge.”
She earned an associate degree in Fire Technology from Santa Rosa Junior College and a bachelor’s degree in Leadership Studies from Humboldt State University. “Today, I’m a Deputy Fire Marshal overseeing Fire Prevention for a large municipal fire department. My work involves everything from managing personnel and developing policies to inspections, code enforcement, and all the interesting challenges that come with local government.”
She’s “had the opportunity to experience the fire service from several different sides. I’m still a volunteer, so I understand that side of things, but my professional career has also given me experience with the administrative and leadership responsibilities that come with running a department. I can bring those different perspectives, along with my ties to these communities, to serving on the Gold Ridge board.”
Asked why voters should choose her over others vying for a board seat, said:
“I respect the work the current Board has done. Gold Ridge has changed a lot in a relatively short period of time, and bringing so many different agencies together is no small task. As the district grows, it’s important to have a Board that represents as many of our communities as possible. We cover a huge area, and each community has its own history, challenges, and needs. Having people from different parts of the district brings different perspectives to the table. Of course, once elected, you’re there to represent the entire district, not just the community you come from.”
She added, “I’m not coming into this thinking I know everything or that everything needs to change. I’m someone who asks questions, wants to understand why decisions are being made, and isn’t afraid to have the difficult conversations when they’re needed. I’ve watched Gold Ridge change a lot over the years, and I care about what happens next.”
Asked if Gold Ridge has met the challenge of serving fairly the many geographic areas of West County, she replied, “Gold Ridge has made a lot of progress, but I don’t think this is something you can answer with a simple yes or no. It’s something we need to keep evaluating.
“The communities (in the District) have very different needs, and fair service doesn’t necessarily mean having the same staffing or equipment at every station. The response model Gold Ridge has established is a good foundation. What I’d like to see is how well it’s actually working, Are we getting resources where they’re needed? What are our turnout and response times telling us? Are there areas where we could make adjustments to improve coverage? I think we have to look at the actual data to answer those questions.”
Shaffer-Kiley said that her priorities “come down to our people, planning for the future, and transparency and accountability.
“I want Gold Ridge to be somewhere that good employees want to work and, more importantly, want to stay. I also want to see our volunteer program continue to grow and offer opportunities for people to get involved. We’re a combination department, and both our career and volunteer members need to feel supported and valued.
“We need to be looking ahead. Gold Ridge has grown incredibly fast, and we need to make sure everything is keeping up. That means looking at staffing, stations, apparatus, and finances, and thinking about what we’re going to need five or ten years from now, not just today.
“Transparency and accountability is about making sure we’re being responsible with public money, asking questions, and understanding the decisions we’re making. I’d also like to see more communication with the public. People should know what’s happening with their fire district, what we’re working toward, and how decisions are being made. I don’t expect everyone to agree on everything, but I do think there should be a reason behind the decisions we make, and we should be able to explain them.”
Doug Jones
Doug Jones is a firefighter who has lived in this community and within the Gold Ridge Fire District his entire life. “Serving this community has always been important to me, and I am committed to continuing that service in a new role by serving on the Gold Ridge Fire District board.”
Jones began as a Fire Explorer before becoming a volunteer firefighter. “Today, I remain actively involved with the Department and the Firefighters Association while working as a professional firefighter for another department.
When asked why he was running, Jones replied: “I bring a very diverse and experienced view to help continue the growth and change the fire service brings us as everyday challenges to face as a District. I think looking out for our employees' benefits, wages and working conditions are important to provide a high-level service to the communities we serve.” He added: “I would like to help be a part of improving the infrastructure at our facilities along with bringing up the idea of new station placement to better service the communities we serve within the district.”
Jones listed three priorities:
Maintain operational readiness to continue to provide a high level of customer service;
employee health and wellness;
infrastructure improvement or replacement and relocation.
Domenico Carinalli (incumbent)
Dominic Carinalli, who lives near the Hessel Station, has been on the board since 2000. He was a volunteer fireman for many years in the Hessel Fire Protection District. He said that he’s running because “I like helping my community, and this is a subject that I have knowledge about.”
He added: “We have worked with many different fire departments to pull all of our resources together and to provide a safer community for all. Due to consolidation, we now have three additional staffed fire stations. With more stations, we have faster response time for all calls.” Carinalli said that “maintaining a well-run fire protection district is our priority.”
Stephen Petrucci (incumbent)
Stephen Petrucci was raised in the Hessel area near the fire station. He was elected to the Board in 2010. His statement for the Voter Information Guide says that he has served in the community for 50 years, starting out as a volunteer firefighter. He retired in 2018 after 42 years of volunteer service. “I was instrumental in the consolidation of the Twin Hills and Freestone stations in 2013.” Stephen did not respond to emails from Sebastopol Times.
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