OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Among the many companies sending crews to Los Angeles is the Oakland Fireplace Division. Twelve firefighters have been despatched up to now, and on Thursday, they’re sending a water tender.
Oakland Fireplace Chief Damon Covington shared this info with new members of the town council and in addition warned them about closing fireplace stations.
“There is not a fire season anymore. We’re in January, and we have one of the biggest fires that we’ve ever had in our state’s history,” Covington mentioned. “Then we don’t have our full complement of fire service, three months ago, we could be looking the same way LA looks.”
How does the Palisades Fireplace examine to essentially the most harmful wildfires in California historical past?
A stark warning from Oakland’s Fireplace Chief to new members of the town council. Had the 2 fireplace stations closed earlier this week been shuttered throughout October’s Keller Fireplace, Oakland may have seen the identical devastation Los Angeles is seeing now.
“If we hadn’t had a little luck and a tremendous amount of support from our region, it would have been catastrophic,” Covington mentioned.
Covington says shuttering two fireplace stations to assist shut a $129 million finances deficit is of venture the town can not afford. “When we have our full complement, we’re rolling the dice. When we don’t have our full complement, we’re really playing Russian roulette,” he mentioned.
The closure of stations 25 and 28 for the subsequent 6 months is predicted to save lots of the town $5 million, however the closure means it is going to take fireplace crews longer to reply to emergencies.
“For a person is having a heart attack or a seizure or a structure fire, we could be 10, 12,15, minutes away, because now we’re coming from four districts away to get to that call,” Covington mentioned.
Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan did supply some hope. Within the subsequent a number of weeks, the town might be receiving an sudden 2.6 million {dollars} on account of greater-than-expected income from occasions on the Oakland Area and Coliseum final yr.
“And so we will be working on an item to bring the Oakland share of that money back to protect and restore our fire services and our fire stations in Oakland,” Kaplan mentioned.
However even when that sudden occasion cash is ready to save a type of two fireplace stations, 4 extra are slated to shut in February.
