HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 07212015 - FPD D.6RECOMMENDATION(S):
ACCEPT a report from the Fire Chief regarding the impact of the reduction in resources in the East Contra Costa Fire
Protection District and providing a status update regarding the resulting task force that has been established to
explore solutions.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No fiscal impact. Report only.
BACKGROUND:
The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) serves the cities of Brentwood and Oakley and a number
of unincorporated communities including Bethel Island, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, Byron, Marsh Creek, and
Morgan Territory. Given the population and geographical area it serves, the far east County fire district has been
struggling with a lack of funding resources for a number of years. After the failure of a benefit assessment measure in
June 2015, the struggling district was forced to reduce its on-duty staffing to nine firefighters (three crews) which
operate out of three stations. This is a dangerous staffing level given its call volume and geographical spread.
For a number of years, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (CCCFPD) has worked with ECCFPD to
provide resources
APPROVE OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
Action of Board On: 07/21/2015 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
Clerks Notes:
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
Contact: Jeff Carman, Fire Chief
(925) 941-3500
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the
Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: July 21, 2015
David Twa, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
By: , Deputy
cc:
D.6
To:Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Board of Directors
From:Jeff Carman, Chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District
Date:July 21, 2015
Contra
Costa
County
Subject:East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Reduction in Resources and Task Force Update
BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)
to the best of our capability without degrading service to our own customers. After the most recent station closure,
Fire Chief Hugh Henderson and I met, along with our operations chiefs, to discuss the impact and how best to
mitigate that impact before it occurred. CCCFPD's Battalion 8 (Antioch, Bay Point, and Pittsburg) is a very busy
battalion and has very little capacity to assist other fire districts. Due to the geographical challenges in the far east
County, Battalion 8 is the only provider of aid for ECCFPD. That creates an additional stress to the system.
The auto-aid plan that was implemented in June 2015 is working to limit the impact to CCCFPD, but recent data
shows that despite the new auto-aid plan, our responses into ECCFPD have tripled since the most recent station
closure. Additionally, there have been multiple incidents where CCCFPD was forced to deny aid to ECCFPD due to
the call volume in Battalion 8. In the next few weeks we will be forced to meet with ECCFPD again to further refine
our auto-aid agreement to reduce the aid disparity.
Subsequent to the failure of the benefit assessment measure, the City of Brentwood formed a task force to explore
short and long term ways to improve response times and overall service. The County Administrator has requested that
a representative from CCCFPD serve as a member of that task force. I attended the first meeting. It well attended and
educational. I came away with the resounding message that long term funding measures need to be identified and
implemented to be able to provide adequate fire service in ECCFPD. While long term funding is the paramount issue,
it may take years to address. Therefore, the immediate goal of the task force is to identify short term measures that
can bridge the gap until long term remedies can be implemented. There are two additional meetings scheduled in July,
both of which will be attended by a representative from CCCFPD. I will continue to provide updates to this Board.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The report will not be accepted by the Board.
CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT:
No impact.
CLERK'S ADDENDUM
Speakers: Hugh Henderson, East Contra Costa Fire Protection District; Gil Guerrero; Mayor Doug Hardcastle,
City of Oakley.