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Fremont Fire Department expands service, welcomes new company

Fremont Fire Department expands service, welcomes new company
Fremont Fire Department expands service, welcomes new company 03:43

Amid growing concerns over funding cuts to public safety programs and fire department preparedness in California, Fremont in the East Bay is standing out with a rare expansion in fire resources.

While many cities face difficult decisions to reduce fire services, Fire Station #6 celebrated the addition of a new company on Tuesday, complete with an extra fire engine and nine firefighters.

"I heard Truck 56 go available on the radio, and we got to a point where we didn't think know this was ever going to happen," said Captain Osh Ahmad, who was just a rookie when the seeds were planted for the extra company. "When I heard that on the radio, it became very real for me."

The urgency for additional fire resources became evident back in 2004 when a survey noted that just three fire stations handled half of Fremont's emergencies.

"When you've worked in the city almost 20 years and there's an addition of a new piece of equipment that you know is going to be beneficial to the community, but also to your members who are out there doing the job, it's monumental," Ahmad said. "It's more weapons for us, it's more tools in the toolbox."

Since then, the city has experienced a 13% population increase — one of the highest in the Bay Area, according to Census data.

"All we can do is just ask. Ask for resources, ask for equipment," Ahmad explained. "You still need the apparatus and members inside of it to respond to the calls and do the job that we were sworn to do."

The expansion at Station Six comes at a time when cities like Oakland are making tough choices.

Last week, Oakland officials announced the temporary closure of two fire stations due to budget constraints, even as California grapples with year-round fire seasons.

Fremont Fire Chief Zoraida Diaz, a former Oakland firefighter, is all too familiar with these challenges.

"At the end of the day, the people who are impacted are those that we're here to serve," Diaz told CBS News Bay Area.

She emphasized the importance of maintaining resources and building a resilient organization capable of recruiting, hiring, and promoting in a timely manner.

"When you have to do more with less, it's not giving our members the opportunity… the members of the fire service an opportunity to really recover," Diaz said. "So having an organization that allows us to hire, recruit and hire and promote on a timely basis is so rewarding — I can't even speak to how rewarding it is."

The funding for the additional company was allocated in Fremont's 2022-2023 budget. Diaz noted that adequate resources enabled Fremont Fire to send 14 firefighters to assist with the ongoing wildfires in Southern California.

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