ECCFPD firefighters mop up a grass fire on Sims Road last week. Automatic aid from surrounding districts helped extinguish the blaze, but such assistance will be reduced in the future.
Photo by Rick Lemyre
Photo by Rick Lemyre
The move, made by a reluctant County Board of Supervisors on the advice of an equally reluctant Confire Chief Daryl Louder, comes in the wake of last month’s failure of Measure S, a parcel tax that would have benefited the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD). Confire’s neighbor to the east, the ECCFPD covers 250 square miles of far East County, including Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Bethel Island and Knightsen. Without the new revenue, the ECCFPD was forced to close three of its six stations and lay off 15 firefighters on July 1.
Automatic aid, which dispatches the closest available resources to emergency calls, is based on the concept that fire districts will receive about as much assistance from neighboring districts as those districts supply in return. Prior to last month’s station closures, the ECCFPD already received about three times more assistance than it provided Confire, which covers most of Contra Costa, including Antioch. Since July 1, the ratio has become even more imbalanced: Confire has answered 20 calls for the ECCFPD, sending a total of 29 engines. The ECCFPD in the same period has assisted Confire three times with a total of three engines.
This week’s decision means that if more than three engines are needed by the ECCFPD, they must be requested by firefighters responding to the call. The standard response to structure fires is five engines.
The decision also means Confire will no longer send cover-up engines to stand by at ECCFPD stations while those units are on calls, nor will Confire respond to non-emergency calls in the ECCFPD. Odor or smoke investigations, animal rescues or minor medical calls in will not be answered until an ECCFPD engine is available.
“It’s pretty much what we’ve been planning for,” ECCFPD Chief Hugh Henderson said. The new system will likely mean longer response times, he said, and will impact how incidents are handled.
“We have to evaluate every incident differently for tactics now, knowing (assistance) may be coming from farther away,” said Henderson. At a structure fire, for instance, the awareness that support will be delayed could cause firefighters to protect threatened buildings prior to attacking a building on fire in order to keep the number of structures involved to a minimum.
Also on Tuesday, the Oakley City Council announced it will invite the public to apply for two of the city’s three seats on the fire board. The nine-member board is currently made up of the three Oakley Council members, plus four Brentwood City Council representatives and two directors appointed by the Board of Supervisors to represent the unincorporated areas of the district.
The current appointed board took control of the ECCFPD from the Board of Supervisors in 2010 with the intention of converting to an elected board as soon as possible. The process would require two elections, one to ask residents if they want an elected board, and a second to elect the directors.
The total cost of the two elections would be about $300,000, or nearly 40 percent of the $800,000 reserves left after the district slashed its budget from $11 million to $8 million following the Measure S defeat.
“The cost for a broke fire district to host another election was too substantial,” Mayor Kevin Romick said at Oakley’s City Council meeting Tuesday. “We met with our legal counsel and they said we could do an appointed board, which is a cost-effective alternative, so we’ll try to move forward with that.”
Brentwood’s City Council will discuss appointing residents to replace its councilmembers at its July 24 meeting. Oakley will wait until then to finalize a timeline for the shift, but will most likely appoint replacement directors with staggered terms in order to maintain experience on the board while new members get up to speed on district operations. Romick, the current ECCFPD chair, will remain on the fire board for one year, while councilmembers Jim Frazier and Pat Anderson will vacate their seats.
“It’s unfortunate that at this point (electing directors) is a cost prohibitive process, but a necessary process to get a more diverse group as originally intended,” Frazier said.
The ECCFPD has also begun an effort to determine if there is enough interest among district residents to support a new volunteer program in order to help serve the 250-square mile district now protected by only nine firefighters per shift. Henderson said Wednesday that applications are now available on the district website, www.eccfpd.org.
Mike,
I will assume your name is Mike, based on the same assumptions you used to determine who I am. It has been made clear in most of the post that I am involved in as to who I am. Yes, I am Captain Paramedic Vincent Wells and I work for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District and I am the Union President for Local 1230. You can see my salary and benefits via the Contra Costa Times Bay Area News Group website. All you have to do is put in my name and enter the additional information requested to see what I make and how much I cost. I always believed that they posted that information so that you can see how you were getting your money’s worth out of your fire fighters. I guess I was a bit naïve. As far as your breakdown of my cost to the taxpayer, I am worth every penny. Please come spend a day with me and I can assure you that is the case. We expose ourselves to many hazards and dangerous situations that you may not be aware of as you go through your day. Believe me though, we have your back. Go to your Starbucks, plays, movies, or community events and understand that while you do that, we are protecting your communities, (See the movie “ A Few Good Man”), starring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. If the soccer game you are attending has an injury or is threatened by fire or any other threat, we will be there to protect you and the other spectators, so don’t you worry. If they cut our services then prepare to handle it on your own. Unfortunately the website doesn’t include our medical records. It doesn’t include the stress, the exposures, or the nightmares we take home. It doesn’t inform the public of how many dead kids we see, how many dead people we see, or how many people we console when we arrive too late. The website doesn’t list the injuries, surgeries, or diseases we are faced with everyday either.
So, yes you have listed my compensation, and I can tell you that I am worth every penny of it. Please list what you do for a living and give me a breakdown of your pay. Perhaps we can find folks to volunteer to do your job, or we can take a shot at how much you are overpaid as well. Or we can determine that your services are not needed. I have saved many lives, delivered babies, protected property, protected the environment, educated your children on how to use the 911 system and put themselves out if they catch on fire. I have provided them with the number to call if they come across an emergency and have stood between fire and property. How much should we make to do that in your mind? When you answer that, please list your pay, job and compensation as well.
Just stop with all of the self hero worship. Yes you have an important job but in the big picture it doesn't even break the top 10 as far as being dangerous and to think you are special for going out and doing your job is delusional. We all have to get up every day and perform our jobs. These jobs all connect us and make our society function. You are no better or worse than the next guy.
But in the end our taxes pay for your station in life so therefore we all have the right to see what we pay for and have the right to say too much. It is obvious you feel you are worth every penny but your funders do not. Your job is worth about 80k per year as salary and no overtime scam, pay half of your medical, pay your own pension or pay into Social Security like the rest of us. Beyond that we are overpaying and not getting our moneys worth.
If you think at that rate your job wouldn't be filled then I hope we have the opportunity to find out.
Yes I have to say Mr. Wells is really trying to justify his job. He puts lots of milk and honey on himself. We can find someone who is just as good as Mr.Wells for half of what he brags about he is worth. Just because he has a dangerous job does not make him worth two times the average pay of government workers. When I was young firemen didn't stay overnight and sleep at fire station. Now they get paid to sleep. Mr. Wells is not bragging about that is he. We need to get rid of the politicians who gave away all our tax money.
This hero/victim complex is thankfully not what I have seen from other public safety officials. Most are incredible humble heros. In fairness to Mr. Wells, he has been under tremendous pressure for quite some time. I hope that he will call upon support necessary to pull back and see the big picture, namely that the solution will likely require a paradigm shift for public employee unions and the politicians with whom they have negotiated unsustainable benefit packages for many years. Negotiating new tiers that won't save any money for 25years isn't going to get it done.
Otherwise, I am afraid that Mr. Wells' will be no more satified than Col. Jessup at the end of the film.
What do you mean when you write "overtime scam"?
Mary Piepho and Jim Frazier are known followers of his, and that hasn't kept him from calling people out for being dillusional, liars, fibbers and even terrorists. While calling it as he sees it, he proves you can have it all: leadership, hostility, personal attacks, name calling, fifth grade writing skills and journalistic plaques on his wall.
Remember: Burke-Piepho-Frazier! Leadership for East County!
Speaking of 5th grade writing skills, you spelled “dillusional” wrong. It’s spelled delusional. I find your post somewhat hypocritical about character assassinations and then immediately bring up Mary Piepho and Jim Frazier—two of the most popular Politian’s in the area who have nothing to do with this conversation. You bringing them up is just silly and shows your biased behavior against them.
If you would like to include me in the same class as Piepho-Frazier, I am honored. They are in good company and have done a lot for the community which is more than what I can say for you.
By the way, I love that I can be included with a Republican and a Democrat; I guess that makes me a “middle of the road” guy when I run for something. Thanks for defining me as level headed—politically speaking.
@ Mr. Gonzales, you should really learn who your local leadership is. I do not know of any leader in the area named Fraiser. But I do know a Jim Frazier who is headed to the State Assembly in November. Is that the same guy you are referring to? At least we can agree on something which is I have put you to shame many times and you still come back for more. For the record, I have not provided any "factual fixes", I've simply stated the facts and what has occurred.
• Adopted a resolution calling for applications from members of the general public interested in serving on the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Board of Directors. The City Council will be appointing 2 residents to represent the City of Oakley on the Board in the next couple of months and 1 more resident next spring.
I truly feel for those Oakley residents that fall for this. It's the same trap that was put on the council members by the Supervisor. The word should be out by now. Pass the buck when tough decisions need to be made. Jump ship when the boat is sinking. Don't ask don't tell.
Time for Super Burke for Oakley to sign up and all will be well.
2. It's Burk, not Burke if you want to shorten my name.
Keep on announcing how stupid you are John. Nice work and keep on sending people to my website. Much appreciated. Please keep tempting me to write an article on your failures of the board and exposing your hissy fit that got you thrown off... keep it up dude.
Real leaders focus on solutions, not character assaults.
I think you would make an excellent Director for the fire district. You have put me to shame on your knowledge of the district and what it takes to fix it.I'm sure Frasier would love to have you take his seat. Seriously, lets see what you have. Your website is loaded with factual fixes for all of east county. I am also sure Oakley would welcome your solutions too. The dude thing your probably going to have to drop. Give it a try Mike, you would do well.
I hate to bring up a point we made regarding Measure S; the tax rate was from $0.00 to $197.00, the 10 year plan was only a plan. Perhaps the effort should have been placed on making sure the money was spent well rather then what the results were if it failed.One of the members of the tax payer association told me that "sometimes you have to burn it down so you can build it back up".Ironically, that is why fire departments were put in place, history has already proven the need.I guess that person thinks this generation is worth the risk for the next.I wonder where she is in helping build ECCFPD back up? Maybe she will move out here so she can get on the new fire board?
We are a long way from addressing any of the issues at this point. Insurance rates will be sky rocketing in the near future with no bail out in site. So much for the Board of Supervisors coming to the rescue. The voters or the fire board should have had a plan B. The current situation is certainly not one!
Sorry, that was my last post of hindsight! It is just frustrating, when those that aren't involved and don't know the impacts or the difficulties faced by those involved, rule the day. This is the results.
Ironically, the fire fighters that were laid off are all interviewing for the many fire departments that are hiring and who pay more then any of the county agency does. The impacts are being felt by the 27 left and the 105,000 who don't have services.
Salary $103,635
Ovetime $20,912
Other Pay $21,045
Medical $15,794
Pension $30,468
Misc $15,990
Grand Total $207,844
The rejection of proposition "S" is the citizens saying enough is enough. When public servants are making that type of money the system is broken. Then to compound that with the sweetheart 3% PERS it just adds salt to the wound.
Quite some savings to the tax payer..almost 1/2
Lets not forget about the taxes that the district pays per employee too..about 10% extra on top of salary paid out.
THIS IS WHAT THE NEW BOARD NEEDS TO IMPLEMENT,
(Pay as we go, no hidden taxpayer costs)
I remember (as I think many others will remember) when East Diablo Fire ( Brentwood, Discovery Bay, and Byron) had this very same problem with underfunding and understaffing. They would constantly call Oakley Fire for move ups. Oakley Fire finally had to advise that a bill would be sent for any "non emergency" back up or move ups as East Diablo was draining the funding of Oakley Fire. They ignored the warning and racked up $60,000 the first few weeks for station move ups. When the bill was sent to East Diablo Fire they balked and complained to the County Supervisor that mutual aid did not have specific limits for reciprocation. The bill was never paid, however it was at that time the three very differently funded fire districts were forced to be merged by the Board of Supervisors. Maybe this is a sign that another merge needs to take place.
At least we are not at the point like some other areas,
http://www.firerescue1.com/labor-issues/articles/1312928-Pa-mayor-cuts-firefighters-pay-to-minimum-wage/
SCRANTON, Pa. — Unions representing workers in the northeastern Pennsylvania city of Scranton expect to file a federal lawsuit against the city after the mayor abruptly cut their pay to minimum wage.
The attorney for three unions, including firefighters and police, tells The Times-Tribune of Scranton he expects to file several legal actions, including a motion to hold Mayor Chris Doherty in contempt of court for violating a judge's order to pay full wages.
Doherty last week cut the pay for about 400 employees to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. He says it was the only way for the cash-strapped city to pay bills, and promises to restore pay once finances are stabilized.