With the closure of Station 87 on W. Lelend set to close on July 8, residents of East County can expect longer response times by nearly a minute based off computer models—the reality is, it will likely be longer response times.
That news isn’t sitting well with Supervisor Federal Glover who was forced to make that decision with his board to close stations after voters turned down Measure Q which would have raised $17 million annually for seven years and kept stations opened.
“I will continue to seek ways to ensure the safety of our citizens. Nobody, absolutely nobody, like these cuts — and that includes the Measure Q opponents,” said Supervisor Glover via email. “As the chief told the audience Monday night, our staffing levels didn’t meet industry standards before the cutbacks. Now, ConFire’s staffing levels are become even more worse.”
One July 8 comes around, it will be the fourth Contra Costa County Fire Protection District station to close since January—which is what was warned would happen without additional revenue. After the closure, calls will be performed by a fire station in Bay Point on Willow Pass Road, which is 2.4 miles away, and another Pittsburg station on Railroad Avenue that is 2.9 miles away.
This likely also means the beginning of the end for mutual and auto aid with East Contra Costa Fire Protection District which relies on Station 88 in Antioch for incidents when stations are tied up. For larger incidents, they pull additional resources from Antioch and as far as Bay Point.
The station closure is estimated to save the District $1.9 million.
“Besides budget and staff reductions, which we have been doing all along in case you were not paying attention, that means strategic planning and placement of our remaining resources. In addition, that may mean finding other revenue sources,” explained Glover.
Here are a few pictures from Monday’s meeting in Pittsburg.
4 comments
As citizens of Contra Costa County, Measure Q should have been voted in to ensure our safety.
As much as I hate what the supervisors are doing with closing stations, voters did it to ourselves. Shame on us!!!!!! Very sad.
What did everyone expect when you pay those kind of wages and benefits. More sad is the Chief they got over there. Sure didn’t get our moneys worth on that one. The fire district needed to be weaned off of the over paid entitlement group just like the welfare section 8 group. You can get twice the amount of qualified trained personnel for the same price. There is no reason for what is happening except poor management on the county side. Glover needs to start thinking about who he is working for.
Looks to me like the community needs to get a bit more engaged. If the photos are any indication of the turnout then it was a complete waste of time.
I seriously wonder what will be the tipping point that will cause the public to finally wake up.
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