Petaluma workers commuting longer

Despite living in the Sierra foothill town of Angels Camp, 140 miles from work, Petaluma Firefighter Greg Taylor still says he has the best commute.

If he leaves early enough, he can catch the sunrise over Half Dome and the Yosemite Valley. Then, he traces the Mokelumne River to the Sacramento River Delta. From there, it’s a quick hop over the sun-dappled Napa Valley before arriving at Petaluma’s Fire Station 2.

Taylor is able to make the trip in just under an hour, but he doesn’t use high speed rail or a carpool-eligible electric car. His commute vehicle of choice is a Cessna 150 airplane.

“I got my pilot’s license a couple of years ago,” said Taylor, a 14-year veteran of the Petaluma Fire Department. “I’m just trying to figure out how to make the world a little smaller.”

Taylor doesn’t even have the longest commute in the department - one Petaluma firefighter lives near Redding, 200 miles away - but his is objectively the most unique.

“It’s a beautiful way to commute,” said Taylor, 41. “The best thing is you can’t get a speeding ticket.”

The long travel times to get to work for firefighters and other employees in Petaluma like teachers, nurses and city maintenance workers highlights a housing affordability crisis that has gripped the region. As housing prices continue to rise in Petaluma, working class employees with jobs here are forced to travel longer distances from more affordable cities in places like the Central Valley.

Petaluma firefighters are able to make long commutes work thanks to the fire department’s 48 hours on, 96 hours off work schedule. Of the department’s 51 firefighters, about 30 percent reside outside of Sonoma County, according to Jeff Schach, the assistant fire chief. Others live in Oakdale, Woodland, Danville, Cottonwood, Shingle Springs, Fair Oaks, Auburn, Concord, San Carlos, Clayton, Upper Lake, Modesto, Hidden Valley Lake and Napa, he said.

The starting salary for a Petaluma firefighter is $74,000. The average home price in Petaluma is $700,000, according to real estate website Zillow, and the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $2,500.

Taylor, who grew up in Petaluma, moved nine years ago to Angels Camp, where he could afford a 21-acre ranch. He said he was looking for a piece of land where he and his two young children could hike and ride motorcycles.

“It’s definitely more affordable than around here,” he said. “I could stay here and live in a condo or a townhouse, or decide to sacrifice by being on the road and living in the foothills. There’s no way of affording something like this in Sonoma County.”

After he moved, Taylor decided to keep his job in Petaluma because of his roots in the community and because he would have had to start at the bottom of the pay scale at a different fire department. It took him a year to get his pilot’s license, and then he bought a two-seat Cessna for $29,000.

In fair weather, he flies into the Petaluma Airport, where he keeps a commuter car. When it’s cloudy or smoky due to wildfires, his plane is grounded and he drives, adding two hours to his commute.

Having a staff of firefighters spread out all over Northern California is not ideal, said Fire Chief Leonard Thompson, but it’s a lifestyle choice that many opt to make. He said when there is a major emergency, like the October 2017 wildfires, it helps to have firefighters living nearby in case they need to be called in to assist.

“It really helps with our surge capacity if they are local and can come in quickly,” he said. “Of course if they live in the community and can respond, it makes our service delivery better.”

During their shifts, firefighters live at Petaluma’s three fire stations. Thompson said that there were more firefighters on hand during the 2017 fires than available equipment, meaning the city has ample coverage, but he said more affordable housing would help.

“I’m always in favor of more affordable housing, especially for firefighters,” he said. “Having more housing close by would give them a good viable option.”

City Councilman Gabe Kearney said policymakers understand the need for more affordable housing. He said the loss of redevelopment, a key funding source, hurt the city’s ability to encourage affordable housing developers.

Kearney said that Petaluma police officers make less money than firefighters, but many police officers live in and around the city.

“A lot of firefighters choose to live a certain lifestyle where they have land,” he said. “In order to afford that, they choose to live farther away.”

For Taylor, the lifestyle is worth the commute, especially when the meandering 140-mile drive becomes a straight 90-mile shot at 3,000 feet above the traffic.

“It’s pretty cool, I’m not going to lie,” he said.

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)