East County will become very thin in fire service beginning in July as the Board of Supervisors voted to close Contra Costa Fire Protection District Station 87 in Pittsburg on July 1 and another unnamed station in January as part of the district’s ongoing service reduction and fire station closure plan.
This comes after a recommendation was made by County Administrator David Twa last month—the shutting of two fire stations saves the District $3.05 million.
The Pittsburg closure follows the other station closures in Lafayette, Martinez and Walnut Creek and the drastic service reduction at Clayton’s fire station.
Editors Comments
As I wrote yesterday, votes have consequences and now voters will soon realize their error of rejecting Measure Q in the height of fire season later this year-–East County will also pay as well because aid from ConFire on our incidents will likely be reduced or eliminated altogether.
People need to remember that ConFire call volume is not going down, it’s the guys responding to calls that is being reduced.
In speaking with Vince Wells Monday night, he spoke that they are in “crisis mode” and he is right.
The ability to provide the same level of service we have been accustomed too will take a hit. At no fault at all to the firefighters, response times will increase due to one less station on the street responding to calls.
From a backend standpoint, there will be a lot of maneuvering during incidents and let’s hope an engine is free or in the area for quick response in an emergency situation. The reality is those Antioch stations will be putting on some serious miles on their vehicles after July 1 unless service to East Contra Costa Fire Protection District is reduced which would require approval from the Board of Supervisors—and for East County’s sake, we cannot afford for that to occur.
Ultimately, the Board of Supervisors are in a no-win position of being forced to live within their means after voters made that clear this past November. People were warned closures would occur which was rejected and brushed off as “scare tactics” by the Contra Costa Times and Contra Costa Taxpayers Association.
In fact, I am waiting for the Times Editorial Board to put out an editorial congratulating the Board of Supervisors for listening to their paper and the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association rhetoric about living within their means–where is that article, I haven’t seen it yet? Going a step further, where is a formal plan by the Taxpayer Association where have apparently become EMS experts and want service model changes in order to save a few bucks on gas by keeping engines in the stations.
The point is, the public had a decision to either try and become educated on public safety services and provide additional revenue for emergency services or take the easy way out and listen to false rhetoric and mudslinging during a campaign. Unfortunately, the too many folks listened to the mudslinging and voted no.
Votes have consequences, we can only hope the damage is limited in Contra Costa County as a long term solution is sought.
Source:
http://claycord.com/2013/05/07/contra-costa-county-supervisors-approve-plan-shutter-fire-stations/
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=9076981
2 comments
Home run! Antioch will pay the most for this with our engines running to incidents in Antioch, Pittsburg and as far as Discovery Bay unless the aid is reduced. Killed this one Burk. I do appreciate the links at the bottom.
You sure are consistent Burk in your support of public safety. With all the incidents in the last few weeks, I believe some minds will be changed when the pain is felt. You changed my mind back when East County lost its stations and its sad to see how Pittsburg will now effect East County. You have a great point, where is that times editorial or taxpayer plan that was talked about during the election?
Yesterday was yet another sad day with our public safety being reduced
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