On March 13th, A Letter to the Editor was printed in both the Brentwood Press and the Brentwood News from Dave Roberts of Oakley. The original letter as printed in the Brentwood Press headlined “Retirement Protection District”.
Steve Smith, an ECCFPD Director (but speaking for himself only) has made the following statement:
“Given Dave Roberts’ background and knowledge, his letter on March 13 (Retirement Protection District) is the height of intellectual dishonesty.
He compares ECCFPD to the Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District, one in vastly different circumstances. He fails to mention that the bulk of ECCFPD retirement costs are the district’s share of pension contributions for current employees and in prefunding health care for their eventual retirement.
According to the Moraga-Orinda’s latest labor contract, their healthcare costs have come down to ECCFPD’s already-existing level. He also suggests that we cut costs on a service (paramedic ambulances) that we don’t even provide.
More to the point, district residents should also know how a combination of good fortune and juggling of inadequate resources prevented a far-worse tragedy on the evening of Saturday, March 14, when a residential structure fire was reported on Jane Lane in Oakley at 9:15 p.m., and three ECCFPD engines, one CONFIRE engine and the CALFIRE engine from Marsh Creek were dispatched.
At 9:24, as the first two engines began to attack a bedroom fire, a second residential structure fire was reported on Caddie Court in Brentwood. For that fire, the last ECCFPD engine, two CONFIRE engines from Antioch, the redirected CALFIRE engine and a CONFIRE engine from downtown Clayton (!) were dispatched. By 9:31, the Jane Lane fire had been knocked down quickly and a search for any victims completed. Simultaneously, the first unit arriving at Caddie Court at 9:32 reported heavy smoke and flames from the roof (a serious attic fire). The last two engines enroute to Jane Lane were redirected to Caddie Court, replacing far more distant engines initially dispatched, and one of these was the second to arrive at 9:34. The fourth engine to arrive at Caddie Court had actually been the third engine to arrive at Jane Lane. Fire attack began at Caddie Court at 9:40 and the fire was out by 10:04 with a severely damaged but salvageable home.
As cleanup continued from both fires, it was somewhat challenging to find resources to cover three medical calls. The fact that the Jane Lane fire only needed 10 firefighters, rather than 17, made a very large difference at Caddie Court.
This sort of thing goes on all the time. A combination of lucky breaks and inspired juggling of inadequate resources has held off greater tragedy so far.”
ECCFPD Director Joe Young had also put forth a well-reasoned letter. It may be found in the March 20th issue of the Brentwood Press at: http://www.thepress.net/opinion/letter-lacks-understanding/article_5cadc9fe-ce5f-11e4-9d13-8311142777c8.html
4 comments
Dave Roberts has no credibility. It’s a shame both the Press and Times do not fact check him before publication.
Glad to see other people have caught on and now responding to Dave Roberts. ECT has been known to correct Mr. Roberts for several years. Mr. Roberts appears to have an obsession with firefighters and pensions.
Mr. Roberts – it’s your right to not value firefighters and union workers, but to lie about their pay and benefits to create a misleading impression shows a total lack of integrity. ECT and Brentwood Press should both eliminate any and all of his untruthful postings.
Both Dave Roberts and Steve Smith are local kooks. I wouldn’t trust either one to watch my cat or water my lawn.
My eyes glazed over trying to get through the defensive and boorish diatribe offered up by Steve Smith. Mr. SMITH obviously has extremely thin skin since he always tries to have the last word on everything (even though he is more often wrong in his accounts). Maybe he means well, but he just isn’t very smart. It’s sad really.
Dave Roberts wins by default since I definitely don’t trust Steve Smith to handle my fire department, taxes, or any decisions that effect emergency services.
As we ALL know by now, NO ONE voted for these fire directors and they continue to hide from an election process.
The fire tax gets a big fat NO vote from my household.
By the way Mr. Smith, you probably don’t want to read today’s edition of the press. Looks like Roberts got the last word. I presume we will have to endure another Steve Smith explanation of “The world according to Steve Smith.”
Comments are closed.