I watched with great concern the story on CBS (Monday) evening that detailed the looming cuts to the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District that will, if implemented, reduce the already short-staffed department further. The story focused on Oakley, but the problem will affect all of the area.
In one prediction, it was stated that the current 48 firefighter ranks would be reduced to 23, and would result in serious increases to response time. In fact, the person interviewed stated that responses would rise to 20 minutes and longer! We are all too aware of the problem we face in a part of the county where rapid growth, followed by sudden and devastating budget shortfalls, has made it impossible to continue the spending rates required to keep our citizens safe. There just is no money.
As a transplant from the East Coast more than 30 years ago, I have often wondered why we do not have the same volunteer fire departments that are found all over such places as New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I would guess they are also all over other states, but I can only speak from experience regarding those three.
In nearly every suburb, volunteers are trained to fight fires, manage emergencies and provide first-on-scene help to all kinds of situations. These volunteers take their role very seriously as they respond immediately to alarms sent to receivers in their homes to call them into action at their very local (usually a few blocks from their home) fire station.
Some sectors have a hybrid system in which permanent fire professionals are joined by volunteers who add their hands, minds and sometimes their lives to those of the professionals. This is a system that works! At any rate, it could be a way to reduce the looming 20-minute response times without adding tremendously to the cost for public safety.
At the very least, our county and city officials would be wise to visit some of the volunteer areas of the East Coast to see if there is anything we can implement here.
Jack Harper, Brentwood
When I was a volunteer I was 18 years old, had just graduated highschool, had no medical training and never sat in a fire engine let alone driven one. My selection process consisted of meeting with the chief once, filling out an application and getting the address to the staion and the code to the door, literally. I was expected to teach myself how to drive, pump, navigate and provide emergency care to sick and injured people, and fight fires. I remember being scared out of mind the first day because I was there alone and had never done any of this. Is this representative of all volunteer departments? Definitely not, but an example of what you could get. Many days went by with no staffing or staffing with one 18 year old kid.
Next I was hired as a paid on call firefighter. The selection process was substantial and included; written tests, background investigations, physicals and a offcial EMS/Fire training. We had adequate gear, much better training and equipment however, we were no where near a career department. The station I worked at, which as John mentioned had been either volunteer or Paid On Call since it was founded many many years ago gave way to career staffing after many calls went by with no response or severely delayed response from the volunteer/P.O.C ranks.
In no way am I bashing the vlounteer/P.O.C model. It works in many parts of the country, this not being one of them. People don't stay at home and work the farm for a living anymore, they commute to work many miles away. Meaning your pool of qualified candidates is very limited. We live in an area with an extremely high cost of living and people need to feed their families and put roofs over their heads, even firefighters. This is an urban/sub-urban area, if your happy with someone maybe showing up at some point, or maybe not at all then thats ok. And then when they get there, you have no idea whether their 18 and alone or 35 with years of experience and a full crew. Not refering to career firefighters here either, there are experienced volunteers. Imagine for a second you wrap your car around a tree and the dash has you pinned in the car dying. Option A: you call 911, the volunteers are notified and maybe a few respond from home to the staion, get there gear together, get on the engine and show up who knows how long after you called with 1,3,5 or 0 firefighters. Option B: you call 911, dispatch notifies the closest engine and 3 firefighters are on scene in usually 4-6 minutes everytime. No brainer to me. You could write a book on this subject, these are just a few of my thoughts. I guess the bottom line here is you dont need firefighters until you need them. And when you do I know I'm going to want 3 people, with paramedics there in 4-8 minutes on time every time with the knowledge, skills and abilities to get it done.
Keeping in mind, this problem is totally tied to the drop in property values within the area. Revenue to the fire district is 94% based on property tax revenues and with no predicted recovery in the next 8-10 yrs. the only way to bridge the fiscal gap is through a new parcel tax or assessment. You cannot fill a $2.6M budget hole by any other means.
To Mr. Gonzales' statement about 70% of the country being volunteer; one only needs to pull out a map. Far more than 70% of the country is rural. It's not a mystery as to why 70% of the Districts and particularly those serving the rural areas would be volunteer. The question is do the concentrated population areas of Brentwood, Oakley and Discovery Bay want to live with that level of service covering the District's 250 sq. miles. I grew up in a household that was served by a volunteer department and my Father served for 30 years in that department. I'm familiar with the scenario.
But to assume going to volunteer is the answer for cost savings today is flawed. You will be penalized on the fire insurance side of the equation. Volunteer departments are scored as less capable according to a study done in Monterey County a few years ago. If you think about it, the reasons should be obvious. Career fire fighters are going to have a higher levels of training. The study directly pointed to that factor in consideration of underwriting fire policies.
Then there is the availability of on call personnel. Suisun City utilizes volunteer and has 48 members on the roster to cover 1 fire station. The numbers of personnel to cover 6 stations in this District would be unmanageable with the limited resources and District staff. Even then you probably still won't escape the higher insurance premium "gotcha" being a predominantly volunteer fire department. That doesn't even touch on reduction in basic life support medical response which makes up as much as 80% of fire department responses, both here and in most fire departments nationwide.
What this is probably going to funnel down to is a choice for the voters. Do you want to pay a new tax of something a little less than $200/yr to make the District whole again until such time as the property values can recover. Or do you pass on the $200 so you can risk paying perhaps several times more than that to your insurance company every year and be less protected overall.
I hope the public education process boils this complex issue down so the voters can clearly understand their choices and the implications. Early next year(or so it appears right now) we will have to make that choice at the ballot box.
It's welcomed by most people to have volunteers in all fields. Today the United States is still protected by volunteers in about 70% of all Fire Districts. Your comment makes sense except for the influence that the unions have on the politicians whom make this type of decision. Jack, the area was volunteer since before 1950. However, progress and influence have changed the makeup of fire service in East County.
You make a common sense statement;
"Some sectors have a hybrid system in which permanent fire professionals are joined by volunteers who add their hands,
In this case, here the union frowns on anything that will not create a full time paying job and union dues. No volunteers, even if there is no money available. Unfortunately, this district will probably either go bankrupt, have the county bail them out, have fatalities, or find a windfall of funds rather than allow volunteers side by side.
Times have changed and the public does not have the control or involvement as it did before. The focal point of many communities and cities across America is their Fire Department. That sense of community involvement has been destroyed here. Volunteers are not welcome, not here, not anymore. It is all professional full time now or bust.