With firefighters set to lose their jobs once a $7.8 million FEMA Grant expires in November, the District is beginning to feel the effects of firefighters accepting jobs in other Districts while more than half its staff have applied elsewhere.
When the grant was accepted, it allowed the District to temporarily re-open two fire stations while bringing back previously laid off employees while hiring 10-additional firefighters. With the grant set to expire and no guarantee of a job with the District, they have little choice but to look elsewhere.
It was reported during Monday’s meeting, the District has already lost four firefighters. One left for Hayward, one to Monterey, and two were hired by Contra Costa County Fire—you also had one go into the military and another on long-term disability.
Chief Hugh Henderson explained in a phone call that including Battalion Chiefs, the District should be staffed at 48-firefighters. Currently, the District is at just 43.
According to a source, up to four additional ECCFPD firefighters are set to take jobs elsewhere in the near future. Complicating matters, more than 24 of ECCFPD current firefighters have applied to Contra Costa County Fire since they opened up their lateral hiring.
We have it on good authority ECCFPD will have a number of firefighters picked up by CONFIRE–it should be announced sometime in July.
The important thing to realize is that for each firefighter that takes a guaranteed job elsewhere, the District loses that FEMA money according to Chief Henderson. The District can only bill FEMA for what they have in service under the grant.
Henderson estimates that if District staffing gets to be 35-36 firefighters, they would have to close a station because they would not be able to have the staff to keep it open—even with overtime.
“We are balancing on a tight rope right now and looking for funding while trying to keep employees,” said Henderson.
Editors Comment:
From what we are hearing, there is a good chance one station gets shuttered very quickly as we head into fire season, while a second station will likely be shut down as early as July. The question here is which station goes first, downtown Brentwood (Station 54) or Knightsen (Station 94)?
A worst case scenario is ECCFPD will not have the staffing to manage even a three-station model.
23 comments
All this nonsense about how to keep employees and jack up taxes is why CCC needs a white board approach to this and several other high cost situations. The county needs a NEW Public Safety function that encompasses multiple currently separate fiefdoms. This new entity needs to pay employees based on what is rational and sustainable not based on what others pay (read over pay). Once this new entity is properly structured and functional then the possibility for merit and other types of pay increases will exist.
The sheriff, the fire chiefs, the unions, the county pencil pushers, the politicos do not own the agencies they work for …the public does. If the public would stand up and demand change that made functional and economic sense progress might actually happen…who cares if the sheriff would not like being part of a true Public Safety agency; heck he’s a smart guy maybe he actually would see the value of unified command, control & communications. Maybe he would see the value of ‘true’ first responders who can arrive in all sorts of vehicles. Maybe he would see the value in less redundancy and more staff on the street with stable jobs and good career paths. By the way I’m using the sheriff as an example because some else did when this concept was previously raised….the same could be said for any public agency head.
If you all stick with same old same old you will always have the same old same old problems.
Forget seeking another tax that will not pass ….put your effort into a sustainable long-term set of solutions. Then if a case for more revenue (by a new entity) can be made the voters can decide.
For the record, I primarily blame the politicos and union leaders for this mess, I do not blame the employees and the volunteer (non elected) board members.
Good ole Jeff. Still trying to sell refrigerators to Eskimos. Ignoring any number of laws governing structure embedded within the California Constitution in the process.
Still waiting, Jeff, for even one example of your social experiment being used in America today. Sitting in Utah ranting about how we should turn society and public safety upside down in California with some hairball experiment that rattles around in your noggin is neither rational or prudent.
It’s noteworthy that you feel an average middle class income is “over pay”. Slave wage mentality never goes on vacation at your house, huh?
You must be a total joy to work for.
http://www.emergencymgmt.com/safety/Police-Fire-Department-Mergers.html
this is a link to an article on the subject that talks about real world examples and gosh …how the unions are against this kind of change.
funny thing those pesky gov emp unions always trying to ‘save jobs’ with little regard for better methods and who the heck pays. If the unions hate something and have organized against it, that tells me it is probably a good thing to look very closely at.
if you do a simple search it is easy to find canned union talking points against this and other progressive programs aimed at better delivering first responder services and doing it more cost effectively.
In no way am I saying this is a ‘perfect’ solution because such a think probably does not exist but it is progressive and the benefits are obvious.
in CCC this restructuring around a NEW entity could be done in phases and the savings/benefits would start right away. Moving in this kind of direction would build public confidence might even cause people to think differently about supplemental funding.
the biggest obstacles to this approach will be the unions and local politicos who do not have the guts or ability to tackle the tough challenges they are directly responsible for.
Nope, naaaaah.
You’re still not gettin’ it.
You are completely ignoring the autonomous nature of municipalities vs. stand alone Special Districts. Has nothing to do with unions or local Pols slowing it down. Your link talks about municipal consolidations.
Your problem has been obvious for quite some time, Jeff. You don’t understand the basics. Like the California Constitution and how it breaks down governing bodies, mandated services, by whom and how they are delivered.
That is not to say a countywide public safety agency is impossible. Just that your first stop would be to rewrite the state Constitution to allow it. Meaning, of course, you’ll have to get the whole state onboard with your plan and change the law first.
You are known for oversimplifying. That’s pretty typical for people who live in a bubble or who are sociopathic. Which is it in your case?
So, Sunnyvale circumvented it? Or are they grandfathered? Or maybe in violation? How did they accomplish it?
Righteous,
Last time I checked Sunnyvale is a City which would be municipality (It’s not a District).
I have friends that work there. They are not happy campers and the service provided is sketchy at best. (Firefighters make bad cops and vise versa).
But hey, the taxpayers are saving a dime to have unhappy, reluctant service providers!!! Ask San Jose how their tax saving pension reforms are working out for them! (Word is spreading fast of that disaster).
Poor Chuck Reed. What a loser.
Let’s call this the “other shoe” official drop.
Do not blame these guys one bit. I wish them all the best with the lateral apps and protecting their family income with a prudent move. A jump to ConFire is almost a 50% bump in pay for just a short commute. Sitting around waiting for the inevitable layoffs and additional uncertainty in November would be unwise given the circumstances.
Summer just got a whole lot more dangerous around here.
I’m surprised they didn’t leave for greener pastures long ago.
Best of luck to all the firefighters. They deserve better than what East County has to offer.
If the public does not support keeping its stations open, I can’t blame them for leaving. They have families and should go anywhere that gives them a pay check. Hope CONFIRE takes all of them.
The employees who took the job based on the Grant knew it was a temporary position as well as the firefighters re-hired. It’s a shame the Board has waited two years to attempt to get more funding. The Board and Politian’s have failed this district, not the people on the line working to protect the community. Sad to see them go, but I support the firefighters 100%.
I only hope that Brentwood Station 54 remains open versus Knightsen. There are just many more calls to handle in Brentwood than Knightsen.
Have to disagree with your wish to keep Station 54 open. Station 94 needs to be kept open due to the runs to Bethel Island and its central location in the district. . Engine 94 goes by on a run to BI at least once a day sometimes 3-4 times on weekends. But no matter, its time to face reality, stations will close. People are going to have to start accepting some personal responsibility for their safety. Learn first aid, learn CPR, cut your weeds back, make a defensive zone around your home (those of us in the more rural areas), get fire extinghers, make sure that you have buckets and hoses nearby for your Bar-B-Ques and fire pits, etc. etc. Because when you need our fire dept., they may already be out on a BS medical call and help is far far away!
Barbara is right…
There have been some strange calls lately which left Engine 52 (Balfour) coming into Oakley and Engine 54 (downtown Brentwood) running calls to Bethel Island because they were the next closest available engines. That is scary to us because the response time is terrible to no fault of the fire district but just the way it is.
About 10 minutes ago, Engine 94 came OFF of the BI code 3 heading into Oakley (I think).
Fire them all and hire non union personnel we can afford.
Great idea CEO!
Let’s fire our professional Firefighters that have thousands of hours of training and experience.
While we’re at it, let’s turn our stations into drive through burger joints where our none-union “Burger Flippers” can ride out on their roller blades wearing pink skirts and serve you your double order of fries with a big max and extra sauce on the side. Hell, that profit might even be able to subsidize the district with a few baking sales on the side of course!
I want my cities Professional Fire Department to be staffed by experienced highly trained Firefighters not minimum wage kids and senior citizens. I also would like for my department to stop being a revolving door and a training ground for Firefighters that we are going to lose to agencies that compensate and appreciate their efforts far more than we do out here.
CEO I challenge you to call station 93 in Oakley and talk with the guys. Set up a ride along and then tell me again you want to fire these men!
Don’t need to fire them. The way this is going, they’ll all leave on there own soon enough.
CEO Smarts,
Thank you for proving that there is such a thing as a stupid comment! Here is a nice shiny gold start for ‘ya and help your self to a toy out of the treasure chest!!
The fire District receives on average less than 63 cents per day per household(not per person) to provide services in East Contra Costa.
If you think that cost is breaking your household budget you should probably consider a psych eval. Because you’re clearly out of touch with reality.
So, you want me to choose between a year of fire and emergency services, or roughly two months of Comcast service?
Righteous,
That would be your choice.
For the rest of us, it’s a no brainer as long as the tax is legit. I’m not one to buy into the benefit assessment and locking in a substandard level of service— so my choice is easy.
It’s no.
R I T W,
If you have to choose between the two, then you probably cannot afford to live here.
Hashtag REALITY
BW & ECV, You two (one more likely) are clearly too fogged by emotion to see that my comment was meant to be sarcastic, sadly though, my sarcasm is reality for many who will see the choice in that light. Ya’all might not want to get your panties in such a wad all the time…
Barbara
Your wrong about keeping 94 open over 54. Engine 94 is no faster to the Island than 93. It has to stop at Knightsen Ave and 93 rolls on by. Also it’s in a terrible location, due to stopping at Delta road. The current location makes it a backup engine to Oakley and Brentwood. Engine 54 is far more busy than 94. Read ECT is right there for you. 94 only runs a handful of calls in Knightsen, all the rest are in support for the busier engines. 54 has half Brentwood to cover, third to island,second to Discovery Bay, first to vasco. Much more important engine.
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