Reduced Funding Forces Policy Change At East CoCo County Fire District
BRENTWOOD (KPIX 5) -- As fire season ramps up, the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District is making some tough choices to deal with understaffing that are compromising the district's ability to fight fires.
East Contra Costa Fire Chief Brian Hemlock made the stark announcement Thursday afternoon.
"Your home is compromised in Brentwood with the resources you have within Eastern Contra Costa County," said Hemlock.
The chief explained that the size of his department has remained essentially static for years. Meanwhile, the communities in his area -- including Brentwood, Oakley and Discovery Ba -- have seen phenomenal growth.
However, year after year, tax increases to fund additional fire protection have failed at the ballot box.
"The bottom line is, we are short three fire stations," explained Hemlock. "We should have six fire stations today and we only have three. We are going to take a defensive attack when it comes down to the fires. This is all meant to live within our means, and to also create the safest work environment for our members with the resources we have."
Last weekend provided an example of what defensive firefighting looks like. A fire on Bethel Island burned a closed restaurant.
Once it was confirmed that no one was inside the building, East Contra Costa Fire Battalion Chief Craig Auzenne summarized the scene.
"As other firefighters arrived on scene, we deployed them in a strategic manner to defensively protect the area. Unfortunately, we had to let the single story vacant restaurant burn," said Auzenne.
Bryan Scott is founder of East County Voters for Equal Protection, a taxpayers group.
"Our motto is we never lost a foundation. And essentially that's what will be here in East Contra Costa County," said Scott.
Scott is trying to get an initiative on the November ballot to force Brentwood to take budget monies from other departments to support the fire department.
The chief is planning his own push, once again, to pass a ballot measure to help his department.
"I want to start off by telling you very clearly, the decisions were making today are definitely the hardest decisions I've had to make as a fire chief in the past three years," said Hemlock.