Three years ago this month, we celebrated merging East Contra Costa Fire into Contra Costa Fire. I remember the sense of relief in the community that Brentwood, Oakley and East County would finally have well-staffed and well-resourced fire service.
Immediately, Contra Costa Fire opened a second station in Oakley and began the process of designing two more stations in Brentwood, including rebuilding at the site of the old Downtown Brentwood station.
Next Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council can approve construction of that rebuilt downtown station, allowing our fire services to finally start catching up with the demands of our growing population.
A small downtown firehouse served Brentwood well in 1990 when only 8,000 people lived here. But as the city grew, so did the need for firefighting resources and stations. A second station (now called Station 92) was built in 2001 to keep up.
The Great Recession was hard on East County, especially fire protection district finances. East Contra Costa Fire was forced to close the downtown station in 2014. Our region was building thousands of homes, but our fire protection shrank to three stations and nine firefighters covering 249 square miles. Response times were dangerously long, and people recognized the need to bring our services up to proper levels.
Throughout that decade, Brentwood City Council consistently said they wanted the downtown station reopened to best protect their community. They even studied whether to break away from East Contra Costa Fire and reopen the downtown station with a city-run fire department.
By 2020, East Contra Costa Fire was so under-resourced that, as reported in the Press, firefighters would “no longer enter burning buildings to extinguish a fire unless lives [were] at risk.” It was a frightening time, and Brentwood was woefully unprotected.
The merger into Contra Costa Fire and the infusion of voter-approved Measure X sales tax dollars have provided the funding to double East County staffing levels and add two Brentwood stations. Rebuilding the Downtown Brentwood fire station, which you have already paid for, is a huge step forward for protecting your property and your life.
Contact the Brentwood City Councilmembers before Tuesday’s vote and tell them, “YES to the station, WITHOUT hesitation.”
Supervisor Diane Burgis
Learn the facts about Station 94: contracosta.ca.gov/District3 and www.cccfpd.org/new-stations/
Previous
- May 30 – Burgis: Fire Station 94 is Crucial for Residents’ Safety
- May 24 – CONFIRE: Incident Strains Resources, Downtown Brentwood Fire Station Tidbits
- May 23 – Burgis: I Trust Contra Costa Fire and So Can You: They know What They Are Doing and Care About Our Community
- May 15 – Burgis: Brentwood Planning Commission’s Reckless Decision Jeopardizes Community Fire Safety
- May 7 – Brentwood Planning Commission Denies Downtown Fire Station
- March 19 – Brentwood Planning Commission Punts Decision on Downtown Fire Station
- Feb 2025 – Burgis: Op-Ed: Downtown Brentwood Fire Station Will Return Life-Saving Services, Upgrades Veterans Hall
- Feb 2025 – Supervisors Get Update on East County Service Center, Youth Centers
- Oct 2024 – Letter: Veterans Issue Statement on Brentwood Veterans Memorial Building
- Jan 2024 – Brentwood Gets Update on Two Future Contra Costa Fire Stations
- Oct 2023 – Burgis: New Fire Stations Will Make Brentwood Safer (fire safety)
