Vince Wells warned the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Board last night of the impacts the District may feel if Station #87 closes in Pittsburg and how it will affect assistance on future calls to East County. That decision could come as early as today during the Board of Supervisors meeting.
Wells, who is President of Local 1230 Contra Costa Professional Firefighters, explained during his comments last night they will be seeking a reduction in service area to limit call responses outside of their Central County area.
Vince Wells Warning to East County
I am putting my ConFire hat on, I am a captain out there as well as union president, but I want to give you guys a heads up. As you know our Board of Supervisors has moved forward at their last budget meeting with plans to close two more stations which you guys have talked about already, I want to let you know we feel that as firefighters in that community 22, we had 30 engine companies; we are down to 22, that is crisis. That is crisis status.
From our perspective, its time for us to get realistic about the services we provide and where we provide it. If you look at our website it tells you we cover 304 square miles at 650k people and let you know automatic aid we cover your two Cities, county area, Moraga-Orinda, San Ramon and everywhere else.
When you have that automatic aid, you don’t have to call, it just comes from closest point according to Dispatch.
We are going to be make a significant push that they are going to reduce our services at that level we have 45,000 calls every month per year and we used to run that with 91 firefighters on duty per day and we are going to be asked to do that with 66 and so our efforts our to shut down the automatic aid or limit it or just go to a mutual aid system. Representing the East County guys, the Pinole firefighters and everyone else that is going to be impacted if the Board does support us, that is where we are headed.
Our board has told us the taxpayers have voted, so it is what it is but our firefighter safety is at risk and actually we don’t really appreciate that attitude when it comes to what we do or provide. And if they are going to not put any effort into try and find resources and finances to run the fire District then we need to protect our members and reduce our call area and call rolls down to something we can manage.
Just a little background, ConFire had staffed 30 companies at 28 stations on a full time basis. In January 2011, one of the two fire companies at Fire Station 1 in Walnut Creek was de-staffed and in July 2012 one of the two fire companies at Fire Station 6 in Concord was also de-staffed. In November 2012, the District had a ballot measure on the General Election ballot to augment District revenue for the continued provision of fire suppression services. The ballot measure was not approved by the voters, resulting in the closure of four fire stations.
Unfortunately, the County Administrator’s 2013-14 Recommended Special District Budget included the closure of two additional fire stations, resulting in a projected savings of $3.05 million. Under the recommendation, one station would be closed in July 2013 and another station would be closed in January 2014.
Mr. Wells is correct in his warning that services to East County will be effected, especially if Station #87 is on the chopping block.
For instance, Antioch Station engines typically will find themselves within the ECCFPD providing assistance—that will now be reduced (hopefully not eliminated) under a new proposal by the firefighters. To put this in perspective, just a few weeks back, ConFire provided 6 of the 10 engines on the Discovery Bay fire. If those 6-engines were not there, we probably are looking at two or three homes destroyed if not more.
According to last night’s operational report, ConFire provided 28-engines on (20 incidents) during the month of April to East County. For the month of March, ConFire provided 40-engines to aid East County.
While I do support Mr. Wells and the firefighters, these comments are a tough pill to swallow because of the implications of stations closures due to voters rejecting both Measure Q and Measure S.
This is a case where the Board of Supervisors has taken a stance of “the voters have spoken and told us to live within our means”; I can’t blame Mr. Wells for seeking a change in coverage area for ConFire because you have fewer guys to cover the county with the same call volume.
From a birds eye point of view, the voters did speak so technically the Board of Supervisors are correct in shutting down stations while Local 1230 is correct from a firefighter perspective, and finally the voters get a reduction in service that they voted on.
Ultimately, politics has now entered the debate and instead of worrying about public safety, the focus is bean counting in terms of money thanks to the reckless writing and attacks against firefighters by the Contra Costa Times Editorial Board and the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association.
It should be noted that while the Times and Taxpayers Association were granted their wish on defeated measures, neither have provided any sort of long term solution or come to the table with a plan they talked about during campaign time–just a bunch of empty rhetoric that now has consequences to the general public.
Having said that, if the Board of Supervisors and Local 1230 continue to go out of their way to avoid the consequences of a vote, you will never fix the funding problem. Nor without real pain does the public gain an real-life understanding about the districts being underfunded.
This is all about perspective and should ConFire aid be reduced or eliminated to East County, the perspective of a lot of voters should immediately change once our grant expires.
This is not a case of bad attitudes from the Board of Supervisors or Local 1230; it’s simply a case of a bad vote by the public and now everyone will suffer at all levels.
By Michael Burkholder
7 comments
Good piece, Burk, and I think you clicked off the points very well.
I sympathize with Wells’ position, which is a no-win. But there is no sugar daddy factor with the County on this one. The voters were told there would be consequences. Not as retaliation, but as a fiscal necessity. If you dipped into general fund dollars to help ConFire, then every other district in the County would expect the same assistance. The demand for money would run into the tens of millions of dollars. The County simply doesn’t have it available in the discretionary budget.
The formulas that were put in place with Prop 13 are flawed. But they have never been addressed since being locked in. There is no tie to cost of living or other cost drivers. Until you link the two, all types of government services are going to start being hit. Fire just happens to be nearer the front of the line.
As for ECCFPD, we are in big, big trouble here. While the Directors continue to argue over who gets to rearrange the deck chairs, the iceberg is coming right at us. It’s less than 12 months out. If this district does not have a ballot measure ironed out and submitted to the elections office by March of next year, massive cuts to service in late 2014 will be locked in. Only this time we won’t be able to rely on our neighbors to save our butts.
While we’re all watching and cheering the new recruits recently, the reality is they are probably short timers. In less than 18 months, barring a major change in the behavior of this board, they will be on the unemployment line.
“While we’re all watching and cheering the new recruits recently, the reality is they are probably short timers. In less than 18 months, barring a major change in the behavior of this board, they will be on the unemployment line.”
Sad but true. Let’s make sure they know many of us are hoping to wake up the fire board director(s) that are currently out chasing rabbits….or in this case, chasing ambulances.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling, and unless you do as I say it will fall on you. The board will do as much as it can with the tools it has. They have firefighters on the board with experience due to pressure from labor and extremists like my big bro. Still the same complainers yell fowl. These wingers will never be happy.The new name on this site should be east county spin today. Aside from that, good article Burk. I still think the county should cough up some medical call dough.
I see you are no better than Steve Smith at answering the question on incremental costs of medical calls. Or the earlier one about whether you think fire is paid by the call.
On the “medical dough” thing, is it that you don’t understand it’s illegal to spend money like that or is it you don’t care?
Jigs,
You summed it up well. By all accounts “ECVBrother” has some degree of social retardation and a mental block. You can’t fix him and he apparently won’t answer simple questions.
ECVsBrother,
You are really a hoot. Emergency services are devastated and all you can do is mock the problem? Wow, what a piece of work you are sister. You need to look in the mirror with your good eye to see who the real “winger” is. I would hate to be you. It’s no wonder you are so frustrated.
Irony is your middle name, you should start using it. The fact that you think this site should be named east county spin today when the only real daily spin is provided by you sits well with me. It is only the ignorant that choose to repeat the same lackluster lines when they have indeed been told otherwise. How is that working out for ‘ya sister?
JigsUp, it isn’t that he doesn’t care, it is just his form of expressing his frustrations with his lack of relevance. Think of him as the little kid sitting in the back of the classroom rocking back and forth. That little kid grew up and is posting under the pseudonym of ECV’s Brother (amongst various other alias’). It looks like the poor little guy just needs a pat on the head!
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