OAKLEY—The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Board of Directors has unanimously approved a plan to temporarily close Fire Station 54 in Brentwood to maximize efficient use of limited resources and personnel. The station will be closed effective September 1, 2014.
District revenues, which are heavily dependent on property taxes, decreased 40 percent due to the recession and housing crisis. Significant budget cuts – including salary freezes and increased payroll contributions for pensions – combined with uncertainty surrounding future funding and potential station closures and layoffs have led some local firefighter/EMTs to leave the district for more stable and better-paying jobs elsewhere.
As of July 1, the District’s staffing level was 35 station suppression personnel – leaving 10 positions vacant. Additionally, one fire captain is recovering from an injury and one firefighter is serving active military duty. In the month of July alone, maintaining the five-station model required 160 overtime shifts from remaining personnel, including 15 mandatory holds – incidents where firefighter/EMTs were required to remain on duty until relieved by a colleague.
“Our firefighters are already paid 25 percent less than those in neighboring departments that also provide superior job security,” said Fire Chief Hugh Henderson. “The hours that they have been working to keep five stations open are unsustainable and potentially a risk to public safety in East County.”
The temporary station closure will remain in effect until the District determines the outcome of the ballot for a fire suppression benefit assessment. With federal funding set to expire in November, the Board of Directors on Monday voted unanimously to propose the assessment to property owners. Ballots will be mailed this month and a public hearing to determine the results will be held after at least 45 days of voting.
An Engineer’s Report on the District website details the rationale and methodology of the benefit assessment, which, if not protested via a majority of the weighted votes by property owners, could fund the cost of keeping five stations open for five years.
Should the assessment be approved by property owners, additional personnel can be hired and trained, allowing Station 54 to reopen.
If the fire suppression assessment is rejected by property owners, the District will likely make the Brentwood station closure permanent and be required to close an additional station on December 1, 2014. Operational changes to call responses and protocols will need to be implemented if the District returns to the three-station model.
“Based on our current budget, staffing levels and the impending expiration of our federal SAFER Grant, four stations is the level of service we can afford to provide,” Henderson added. “We will do everything we can to maintain emergency response times and will reopen Station 54 in Brentwood as soon as logistically possible if revenue to replace our expiring grant becomes available through the proposed assessment.”
ABOUT THE EAST CONTRA COSTA FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT: The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District spans 249 square miles and our firefighter/EMTs serve more than 100,000 residents in the Cities of Brentwood and Oakley, the Town of Discovery Bay, the communities of Byron, Bethel Island and Knightsen, the Marsh Creek/Morgan Territory area, and all other areas within unincorporated Contra Costa County to the east of Antioch and to the southeast of Clayton
13 comments
People would vote for it if they felt they were not playing games. We pay our property taxes and that should cover this. The county sups need to hear the people also.I voted against it because the firefighter’s union was holding out to see if they could get more. And the chief is in on the pension also so it looked like another public union truing to screw the taxpayers again. Get your house in order and we will support you.
Is the Board listening?
This local board have been trying to run a suburban, professional department with a property tax allocation set down when this area was rural and had volunteer fire organizations. Property taxes in ECCFPD are only enough for three stations. Of course we listen, but we also have to face facts. We can’t change the allocation. The Board of Supervisors can’t change the allocation. It is locked in by a formula set in State law.
Hope CONFIRE will control the amount of times Engines from Antioch head to East County because this is not going to be a pretty figure.
Bubbs you have not been paying much attention. We pay the highest legally allowed into our pensions. For me about twenty percent. You see the older you are the higher it is. Additionally all new hires after 2013 are now under new retirement percentage . It is now 2.7 at 57. That means 2.7 for every year served. The article states we are paid 25 percent less than our neighbors. That also is not the total real story. Our engineers and captains are far less than that, more like 60-80 percent less. What would you propose cutting. You have the lowest paid firefighters in the entire Bay Area, who pay the highest allowed into their pensions. We drive around in engines that all are near being taken out of service just because of the shear amount of miles on them. Our engines roll out nearly nine thousand times a year divided by five stations. So we are truly busy out here. In fact the second busiest battalion in the entire county. So bubbs get real we have not received a pay raise in seven years. Yes bubbs not even cost of living raises.
So tell us what your retirement will be, not in percentages but dollars. Also tell us why the Union held out until they could see how much would be available. Like me or not this is the average citizen is looking at and you need to get real. Pension padding etc is nonsense.
Merge with ConFire might be Ok so long as they were not grandfathered in.
Their pensions should be stopped and restarted at the current hire rate. That is life in the new broke world. These things are not sustainable.
Merge with CON FIRE or Vote Yes are your only choices left. The continued approval for new development while allowing the fire district no relief by giving free passes to developers leaves no more choices. Our Supervisor has rubber stamped several hundred homes and ignored a plea from the fire district to create benefit assessments and mitigation requirements to equalize the financial losses that would occur with such. The fire district plea was ignored. So much for the public and its safety. Before the current district was formed, the area was slated to have ten fire stations, two fire boats, and more. It started with eight and now getting down to three. We will probably be at three stations before 2015. If you think three stations are enough so be it. If you do not think that fire fighter jobs will be drawn from this districts lower paid supply to go elsewhere, so be it. However to stop both the Supervisors and Cities from controlling the districts opportunity for more revenue you must decide to vote yes for the benefit assessment or force a merger with Con Fire. There are no other choices. This district can maybe slip by another year or so because of the unusual increase tax revenue from sales of existing homes. That will level off. New development will not pay enough to equalize the fire suppression costs needed under the current structure unless it is mitigated with more fire revenue thus a benefit assessment. The Supervisors and the Cities refuse to create or share benefit assessment moneys. This has been proven by the recent several hundred new homes passed in Discovery Bay with a requested benefit assessment for fire and ignored. If we as landowners vote in a benefit assessment it will supersede the lack of the county and cities authority that have denied this. It will also provide mandatory parcel assessments above the prop 13 one percent and add a revenue fee for each new parcel when created. These funds will only be for fire thus allowing the fire district the ability to survive and grow. The only other alternative is merge with Con Fire as the president of local 1230 Vince Wells has suggested a few months ago. Con Fire has ten times the budget revenue and can absorb us as it did with Riverview Fire in Antioch years back. So, think about it, because the status quo of nothing is doomed one way or the other.
Better Off, thank you for your service and keep up the good job. You save for your pension and enjoy your retirement. Support your union and it will support you. For those who don’t understand the importance of unions in public work jobs should walk a mile in our shoes.
Then there were four fire stations. Soon three. I hope better off and his crew can hold out before total exhaustion until this plays out. There is only so much OT a person can safely handle.
“Only so much OT one can work”. Absolutely true no matter what job you have. Public safety proper rest is critical. All of these folks have had it! They are past total exhaustion. Police, Fire, Bart employee. All folks in public work jobs. Until the economy changes, years to go yet, money is going to be short. An other crash is predicted so hang on.
Don’t even throw BART in with the Fire/Police or other public works. I’m a die hard union official and even I can’t agree with BART after all we’ve paid into the system since it’s inception and what do we get, the bastard child Diesel BART. BART and particularly Joel Keller who I supported have let us down in a major way.
Bubbs you are wrong. We the firefighters of East Contra Costa, or as you say the union signed our contract before the assessed values came in. We did this in good faith and agreed to pay the additional 4.5 I percent into our retirement . We did this because we want the district to succeed.This group has always done what we have been asked to do. We supported local control because we felt that’s what the public wanted. So I’m sorry to say you are dead wrong and are not well informed. I encourage you to attend the Ad Hoc meetings and hear this right from our Fire Board. Some of them are Firefighters from other districts and some are appointed by the county and also there are regular citizens. The two gentlemen who head up our finance committee are local residents that hold no special interest except the success of the district and everyone’s personnel safety. They have donated countless hours to this cause without a penny of monetary gain. As far as my retirement percentage I currently have ten years in here and hold the rank of Captain. Why don’t you tell me how much I get, at least then we will all know you actually did some homework. The information is readily available.
Is the public aware that station 54 already shut down today? Maybe it will open if they have the staff….but maybe not. Sad for everyone!
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