At 3:28 pm Saturday, East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Firefighters responded to the 20 block of Sycamore Ave in Brentwood for a residential structure fire.
Battalion Chief 5 immediately reported smoke showing upon response. He arrived on scene to find a large shed well involved in fire in the backyard. Meanwhile, Brentwood Police were assisting the homeowner to the ambulance for heat related injuries.
According to the District, several loud explosions were coming from the shed which was from ammunition and the shed fire extended through the open patio on the back of the house and into the home. Brentwood Police shut down Sycamore Ave from Brentwood Blvd. to Barbara St and provided traffic control.
Firefighters moved into defensive attack to ensure surrounding structures were protected as the fire grew to large to try and save the home. They also had to battle wires down in the backyard which took PG&E 45-minutes to respond which delayed the attack.
During the fire, a 5-alarm fire in Antioch on Burwood broke out, Engines 82 and 88 (both from Antioch) were released in the middle of the fire to return to Antioch on their 5-alarm fire–it was later determined Antioch’s fire started from a cigarette which burned down 1 hours, threatened a dozen others and burned several acres.
The fire response was reduced to just three East Contra Costa Fire Protection Units after Mountain House was requested for aid, but later determined they could not get the right tactical channel and were later cancelled due to communication issues which left the ECCFPD on its own for the remainder of the fire.
Firefighters had little choice but to let the home burn after being reduced to three engines, one of their firefighters was injured due to heat related injuries and transported to a local hospital. The firefighter was released Saturday evening and is recovering.
Meanwhile, AMR also transported the homeowner to the hospital with heat related injures while a Brentwood Police officer was treated, but later determined to be okay and remained on scene.
The home was determined to be a total loss with the cause of the fire not yet determined, however it did start as a shed fire.
According to Chief Hugh Henderson, all district resources were committed for over eight hours to the fire was zero coverage for the rest of the district.
Raw Videos of the fire.
12 comments
Well done East County Taxpayers… keep on turning down help for your own fire department. The voters don’t even know how to help themselves, how is a fire district going to help you?
Well said Kim!
Lets not go there with the sky is falling again. There will always be times the district is busy. Could it use more resources ofcourse. Saying its uncovered No. You have Con fire, San Joaquin, Alameda, Tracy, Mt House, Livermore, etc for mutual aid. If they are all busy it doesn’t make any difference because it’s a major disaster. Then you revert to citizen help. You only distance yourself from voters by using the sky is falling rhetoric.
Unome, It wasn’t a major disaster and it was uncovered–most of the day. You are wrong on both counts. Get your facts straight before you try to correct someone else. Con Fire, or anyone else for that matter, does not “cover” as part of Mutual aid. Sorry, doesn’t work that way. If your resources are busy you have nothing. Your District is on welfare and is at the mercy of surrounding jurisdictions. If they are busy you are SOL.
A 20 or 30 minute mutual aid response is “covered”? Yikes. What if all these resources were already tied up and that was the second major incident to break out at the same time? You would have lost a whole row of houses.
That’s almost happened a couple of times already. Not a matter of “if”. Just a matter of “when” at this point because the penny pinching crowd has lost their minds.
Choosing not to properly fund your fire department has consequences.
What if, what if, can be said about everything from hospital beds, ambulances, police calls, and army personnel. This is why all these entities have volunteers and reserves. They know they have a budget and use it to it’s best. Except ECCFPD because we are above that I guess.
I’m sure I will get a backlash for the comment but it’s the non supporters of volunteers that are worsening the problem and jeopardizing the public when this situation occurres. When the wild land calls come in it will get worse. Sorry but that is the simple truth.
Johnny, it’s not the 1970s anymore and they aren’t coming back.
Get over it.
Volunteers made sense at one time. But not in the 21st century where 2 income households are the norm just to survive and people work outside of the area. There are not sufficient numbers of people who can commit the time for training or pass the physical. Putting a District of 110,000 people in danger so you can relive your glory days is both stupid and selfish.
A weekend warrior cannot realistically deal with the 8-10 calls per day that stations are dealing with now.
Oh, I forgot 2 more local agencies in addition to the six I listed that can assist us. East bay regional parks and the sheriffs water helicopter. By the way all eight agencies have reserves and or volunteers except our too good for reserves financially straddled ECCFPD. This should be unacceptable to the public. It also placed the public in a unnecessary threatening situation. Of course, until this playing the public in a dangerous game politics ends.
P.S. 75 percent of the United States are volunteer fire districts including urban areas. No, sorry I will not get over it when the community wants to help and the special interest says no because of six figure salaries may not be added. You see the public can’t afford to have several six figure salaries just waiting around for a crisis. This is why the more prepared areas have volunteers, reserves, and on call for such situations. Even the U.S. Armed forces do. Look at it another way. Having the extra help is just another reason to pay more to full time firefighters and welcome having reserves, trainees, and volunteers pick up the slack.
I am not saying that we can’t use more full time firefighters and revenue. I am saying reserves and or volunteers could really help. They do in 75 percent of the rest of the U.S.
Ok got that off my chest. Thank you Say What for prompting my response.
Unome, do you ever think before you post? Your rants are always devoid of fact and rational. I don’t think anyone else here posts anything close to your level of stupidity.
I suppose you are completely oblivious to how out of touch with reality you really are.
It’s hard to believe you can function at all.
I’ll bet 99% of the readers here agree. Since you have nothing intelligent to add, Please go troll somewhere else…
To East County Re, Say What, Anon, and Minions;
I’m sorry the truth hurts you so much. You can google my facts anytime. Your bla, bla, bla is just that. My solutions are real and not politically motivated unlike your rhetoric.
So how is that working out for you? HAHAHAHAA!
You are the one that posts nothing but blah, blah, blah. The truth is no one listens to your rhetoric (excepting the voices in your head).
The truth is you are just a troll with nothing to add to the topic. No one takes you seriously-and that’s a fact JACK.
Google narcissistic behavior, denial and hypocrisy. You will find your photo next to each one of them. Your solutions exist only in your make believe-fantasy world.
You are sooo fricken funny! Keep ’em coming!
p.s. 80 percent of the fire districts in the US are volunteer because 80 percent of the United States is RURAL and doesn’t have the population, density, tax base or NEED to fund a full time fire department. This rural designation doesn’t apply to ECCFPD. Another fact for you to check when you are done with your mental masturbation.
@ East County. Wow really? Would you talk this way face to face? Remember, you will be accountable for any and everything you have said and done one day. Might want to keep that in mind when slinging mud. 🙂
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