East Contra Costa firefighters won't enter burning buildings except to save lives, chief decides

Jun. 13--Beginning on July 1, firefighters in eastern Contra Costa County won't enter burning structures unless lives are at stake.

That's one of the "new urgent measures" East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Chief Brian Helmick said he's enacted because of limited funding and staff.

"There are many realities and many forces that are driving the decision I am making," Helmick said at a press conference on Thursday. "We really don't have any choice, being underfunded and underresourced."

Helmick said having only three fire stations instead of the six needed to cover 250 square miles is "pushing (the district's 30) firefighters to their limits as they respond to twice as many calls for help."

"If there is not a life-safety issue -- if there's not somebody inside -- you need to do the best you can to fight the fire from the exterior to the interior but you cannot be aggressive and overextend yourself," he said.

"If we have a situation in which firefighters get trapped or we become hurt, we are our own 911 system," Helmick explained. "Until we can address our resource issue, and give firefighters the resources they need to do their jobs, we need to take a safe, effective approach."

East Contra Costa Fire is the only agency in the county or anywhere that he knows of that has such a strategy.

The chief, who took the helm three years ago, said in an interview he had planned to seek an assessment fee to bolster the department's revenue but when the coronavirus pandemic hit, he decided to wait until later this year to consider a different tiered approach to funding new stations.

"I cannot dismiss the impact of COVID-19, monetarily, financially and economically," he said. "...I have been trying to delay in taking this extreme measure (the defensive strategy) but I can't wait until November. It's the hardest decision I have made in my career."

Helmick said another factor in his decision is that the district has leaned heavily on neighboring fire agencies for mutual aid, but these days they are financially strapped as well.

"We have great regional partners," Helmick said. "They have subsidized us for a long time and those agreements continue to be strained and that is our problem...As a fire chief, we have to further adjust and restrict the further drain on our outside neighbors because we do not have the adequate resources to do our job effectively, so that's why I have to pump the brakes on how aggressive we are as a fire agency for firefighter safety."

Helmick acknowledged the timing is bad because the wildfire season is getting underway.

All public outreach events and station visits will be eliminated indefinitely, he added.

"These are not steps we want to take -- and candidly, they may not be the last. We may have to consider other, even more drastic measures," Helmick said. "The reality is, we have to live within our means and keep our firefighters safe."

Helmick said the district's six staffed fire stations were reduced to three in 2015 -- not enough to protect a population of 128,000-plus people in Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Bethel Island, Knightsen, Byron, Marsh Creek and Morgan Territory.

District board president Brian Oftedal and firefighters union president Vincent Wells both said they supported the new measures.

"If we only risk lives if lives are in danger, then that is what we have to do and the fire board is backing that decision," Oftedal said.

Though some residents questioned the decision on the Facebook live press conference and afterward and expressed concern about how it could lead to higher insurance rates, Bob Mankin of Discovery Bay agreed something should be done.

"I've advocated on this issue for more than 10 years, been in hundreds of meetings, invested probably a couple of thousands of hours of my personal time," he wrote. "All viable options have been considered."

Sean McCauley, who owns 24 buildings in Brentwood, said he was not opposed to an assessment fee, especially if it is based on "a stair-step approach" to gradually build stations.

"If that (the defensive-stance policy) is what's going to happen, we really need to think seriously about funding this tax initiative because that (approach) is going to be extremely detrimental to property damage and people's homes and pets -- you're not going to go in there for a pet. People seriously need to think about it if that's going to be the policy."

Once served by volunteers and comprised of several city and town departments, the rural fire district was created in 2002 and had eight stations at its height.

The district's financial woes date back decades to when the area's population was much smaller and volunteer firefighters provided service. In 1978, Proposition 13 cemented the property tax allocation for the fire district at about 7 % -- far less than the average 12-14 % elsewhere, leaving the fire agency with less money than other area agencies.

Helmick explained the rate made sense at the time, but not now.

In recent years, the district has tried to shore up its funding sources by pushing for a parcel tax, assessment fee and utility-user tax, but all those measures were defeated at the ballot box.

"The reason it's a big issue is the fire district, the cities, the county, all of us collectively, have not addressed growth effectively over time," Helmick said. "The funding was set to pay for a volunteer fire organization, growth has continued over the last couple of decades and the fire district did not put appropriate mitigation measures to increase the revenue incrementally, slowly over time; as growth continued that created the existing deficit," which is at least $10 million.

One Brentwood resident, Bryan Scott, has tried for several years through a group he founded, East County Voters for Equal Protection, to look for ways to increase revenue. Earlier this year he began gathering signatures for a voter initiative campaign but the pandemic put a stop to that.

"The group is now seeking to have the city of Brentwood place the Initiative on the November ballot without signatures, due to the extreme emergency the region is facing," he said.

"We will continue to explore all options as we move forward," Helmick said. "No options are off the table."

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