Contra Costa County Fire Protection District - Experts & Thought Leaders

Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire) announced its annexation of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD). The annexation’s goal is to improve fire and emergency medical services delivery across the County, particularly in underserved east county communities, while taking advantage of efficiencies and economies of scale to do more as a result of the new organization. annexation process The move comes through an annexation process, years in the making, which sees the consolidation of the urban and rural service areas and resources of ECCFPD into the Con Fire family that was effective at midnight on June 30, 2022. Among the many improvements to fire and emergency medical services will be reduced response times, implementation of fire engine-based paramedic services, and new fire stations and crews across the District, especially in east county. improvements in services As of today, Con Fire has begun delivering enhanced services across our newly expanded jurisdiction" “Today marks our arrival at the finish line of a pursuit for improved fire and emergency services that has been years in the making. I am appreciative of all the work from the many elected and fire leaders that has gone into making this day a reality,” said Lewis Broschard, fire chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. “As of today, Con Fire, consisting of the people, facilities, and resources of East Contra Costa Fire and all of our own resources, has begun delivering on the long-awaited promise of enhanced services across our newly expanded jurisdiction.” fire and emergency services “Today is a landmark day in the evolution of fire and emergency medical services delivery in the communities formerly served by East Contra Costa Fire and across our County,” said Brian Helmick, fire chief, East Contra Costa Fire Protection District. “I am proud of the efforts of our firefighters and staff in helping us achieve the goal of annexation and grateful for the support of our elected officials and fire partners in helping to make it possible.” Safer communities “I am thankful for the many stakeholders who have worked diligently to make this long-sought annexation possible, and I look forward to its many benefits for our communities,” said Supervisor Karen Mitchoff, Chairperson, Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, District 4. “Today is an important day in the lives of residents in East Contra Costa. It is the culmination of years of work and commitment by many to expand fire and emergency medical services to residents who have often had to wait too long," said Supervisor Diane Burgis, Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, District 3. "As an East Contra Costa resident, I am grateful that our community is now safer.” new Fire District The population served by the new consolidated organization grows from 625,000 to 753,000 residents The new Fire District includes the entirety of the former ECCFPD service area, expanding geographically from 304 to 553 square miles, a 45% increase. The population served by the new consolidated organization grows from 625,000 to 753,000 residents. Con Fire provides fire and emergency medical services to residents of 11 cities, as opposed to the former nine, as well as 11 unincorporated areas of the County. Benefits of the newly merged Con Fire have immediately improved fire and emergency medical services, including additional crews and newly opened stations, which will serve to reduce response times. For the first time, residents of east county communities are now served by fire crews delivering Advanced Life Support capabilities. new replacement A first new fire station (Fire Station 95), staffed by Con Fire, opened in Oakley, a month ahead of annexation, on June 1. Further immediate plans call for the opening of recession-shuttered Fire Station 4 in Walnut Creek and the new replacement Fire Station 86 in Bay Point, both in the 30 days following annexation. Planning for the construction of two additional fire stations in the city of Brentwood is currently underway with the completion date estimated sometime in 2024. Transition  A transfer of command ceremony marking the transition of leadership from ECCFPD to Con Fire, as well as a gavel passing ceremony, symbolizes the change in oversight from the East Contra Costa Fire Board of Directors to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in their capacity as Con Fire’s board of directors, took place at 10 a.m., July 1, 2022, in Brentwood City Park. The event was attended by fire leaders, elected officials, and residents and featured static displays of some of Con Fire’s specialized equipment and crews.

Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire) will announce the long-awaited annexation of East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD). A ceremony will be hosted to commemorate this event. Details follow. When: Friday, July 1, 10 a.m. Where: Brentwood City Park, 35 Oak St., Brentwood What: Con Fire will conduct a transfer of command ceremony, as well as a transfer of board oversight ceremony, marking the annexation of East Contra Costa Fire Protection District into Con Fire. The event will feature elected officials and fire service leader remarks, as well as static displays exemplifying the capabilities of the newly expanded fire district serving a much larger geographic area. Additional information One-on-one interviews with officials will be available after the ceremony. Media parking will be located in the Brentwood Community Center parking lot accessible from westbound Oak Street at 4th Street. A news release will be issued in the morning before 8 a.m. and will also be available at the event site.

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire) announces the completion and opening of Fire Station 86 in Bay Point. The new station became operational on August 10, replacing the historic Fire Station 86, located one mile to the east, which had been in continuous use since 1949. Strategically located adjacent to the Highway 4 interchange at Willow Pass Road, Fire Station 86 supports the unincorporated areas of Bay Point, nearby Pittsburg, and other communities along the busy Highway 4 corridor. Disaster-Response command post The three-bay station is purpose-built with versatility in mind, including the ability to house oversized equipment such as the District’s fire bulldozers. It is also built to modern earthquake standards to ensure its availability for facilitating disaster preparedness and response, including a potential location for a disaster-response command post. The station was completed several months ahead of schedule at a total cost of $13 million. “Today culminates a years-long project to deliver a much-needed new Fire Station 86 to both our residents and our firefighters who serve them from it,” said Lewis Broschard, Fire Chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. Numerous new apparatus The new Fire Station 86 joins the District’s complement of 30 operational fire stations He adds, “Strategically located on the busy Highway 4 corridor and built with versatility and safety in mind, Fire Station 86 is uniquely suited to serving both groups.” Lewis Broschard further said, “This and other new Con Fire stations recently opened in Oakley, soon to be reopened in Walnut Creek, and being planned for Brentwood, along with numerous new apparatus and facility improvement projects, are helping us deliver on our vision of continually improving the services we provide for the communities we serve.” The new Fire Station 86 joins the District’s complement of 30 operational fire stations, spanning the county from Fire Station 70 in San Pablo to Fire Station 95 in Oakley. Cancer prevention in mind Soon, it will be joined by a 31st station, with the planned reopening of recession-closed Fire Station 4 in Walnut Creek later this month. Designed with cancer prevention in mind, the station will include state-of-the-art gross decontamination showers, turnout extractors, and modern systems for the extraction of diesel exhaust particulates. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Fire Station 86, with elected officials from the County making remarks and participating, was scheduled for today.

As a company officer, the day will come where you and your crew are first to arrive at what looks like the beginning of a major incident. Your Battalion Chief (BC) is delayed or diverted to other incidents, so YOU are the Incident Commander (IC). How you set the table for this incident with regard to quickly setting up the Incident Command System (ICS) is critical. And how you use your channels of communication, including the ways you communicate, will be crucial to your success. Before we jump into the ‘how-to’, let’s examine something that looms over everything we do during emergencies, especially fires - ‘The NIOSH 5’. I first became aware of the NIOSH 5, when listening to one of Anthony Kastros’ lectures on incident command and the need for an organization on the fire ground. ‘The NIOSH 5’ Firefighters and emergency workers typically get lost, hurt, or killed at incidents, when any one of five causal factors identified by The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are present: Improper risk assessment Lack of incident command Lack of accountability Inadequate communications Lack of SOPs (or failure to follow established SOPs) Statistically, 50 percent of these line-of-duty deaths (LODDs) and injury events occur in the first 15 minutes of an incident. Half of those occur in the first three minutes! If you’re the initial IC, it’s statistically likely this could happen while you’re in charge. Need for training and practice in handling emergencies Keeping ‘The NIOSH 5’ at the forefront of your mind should trigger the need for training and practice in handling emergencies. Although there are factors you simply can’t control during an emergency, you can control communications, incident command, accountability, repetitive training, and standardization. The following are some things to keep in mind while managing an incident: Arrival on Scene In incident management, setup is everything and oftentimes, determines the outcome of the incident. To use a sports analogy, you definitely want your first pitch to be a strike. So how do you do that? Provide a Solid Size-up Clear and concise on-scene conditions reports set the tone for any incident and establish solid communications The first step is taking a deep breath and giving a good size-up. Clear and concise on-scene conditions reports set the tone for any incident and establish solid communications, and a command tone. Your tone and tempo in your size-up will help focus everyone and create a tactics-driven incident, rather than an emotions-driven one. But, if we’re being honest, being cool takes practice and repetition. Your agency should have a standardized way for how and when this size-up is delivered. In many cases, it’s a fill-in-the-blank script that includes the following four things: What you see (smoke and flames/or nothing showing) The area you see it affecting (the second story, the alpha/bravo corner) What’s happening/what’s on fire or causing the hazard (a two-story home or a sedan next to a building) Establishing command (a must-take command or pass, if you’re going to rescue a citizen) By practicing within your agency’s standards, it enables you to project a cool tone over the radio like you’ve ‘been there before. Order resources early and often Tunnel vision is a death sentence for any IC. In most cases, this is not the time to get sucked into task-level problems. The exceptions to this are structure fires and other emergencies where there is an immediate and known rescue. Otherwise, it’s time to step back, take in the big picture, and make decisions as an IC. Ask yourself: ‘What will this incident do in five minutes? 10? 20? One hour?’ If the answer is ‘get bigger’, then you need more resources. Order them early and often, because they can always be turned around. Don’t try to do too much with too little. Trusted Incident Command System equals early accountability As the initial IC, you’ll be sending crews into the hazard zone. It’s a red flag if, during the initial portion of the incident, you don’t have solid accountability. It’s during this initial ‘fog of war’ that we lose track of crews, and it’s when personnel gets hurt or killed. NFPA 1561, along with other best practices, requires that you know where everyone is and what they’re doing. If you don’t have that knowledge, stop and figure that out, or assign someone to figure it out and report back to you as soon as possible. Benefits of an all-in-one digital platform - Tablet Command Many agencies require the first-arriving officer to implement some form of an ICS to track crew Many agencies require the first-arriving officer to implement some form of an ICS to track crews – a notepad, whiteboard, tactical worksheet, or better yet, a digital command board. The huge advantage of an all-in-one digital platform like Tablet Command is that it’s CAD-integrated and will populate resources for you in real-time. There’s no writing and scribbling while listening to garbled radio traffic, and no trying to ‘catch up’ with resource orders that change on the fly. Accountability integrated into command processes With a platform, such as Tablet Command, all you’re doing is dragging and dropping resources into their assignments, which automatically time-stamps their activities. Maintaining accountability becomes seamlessly integrated into your command processes. These digital platforms also tend to be highly recognizable and easy for others to assume command. It’s paramount that you train extensively on whatever system your agency uses, and that everyone in your region or agency is squared away on how to maintain accountability in a standardized fashion. It’s a problem if you have several chiefs and company officers, and too many (or not enough) ways of maintaining accountability. Many agencies need the first-arriving officer to implement an ICS to track crews Segment and subdivide How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Use your knowledge of your ICS to break up the incident into manageable bites. When the Fire Chief arrives, they’ll have simple questions: Where is everybody? What are they doing? How are they doing? How do I talk to them? Knowing where your people need to deploy and what channel they’re on are critical to accountability. Using the command board is a great way to have all of those questions answered. Using divisions, groups, or sectors can make your life easier in this regard, especially as an incident grows rapidly Using divisions, groups, or sectors can make your life easier in this regard, especially as an incident grows rapidly. This is true because it ensures you’re talking to the supervisors of each segment of the emergency, especially when assessing conditions, actions and needs. Setting up an incident this way should also be an expectation that is agency-wide and practiced in scenario-based training. The terminology should be standardized so that your agency and neighboring agencies aren’t interpreting what you’re trying to accomplish in the heat of battle. Summary A clear communications plan, solid scene size-up, and early establishment of the ICS by company officers are critical to incident success. Combine this with accurate and solid accountability systems, either through analog methods or with a modern digital solution in real-time, and you guarantee safer outcomes for your crews. The best way to be prepared is through long hours of dedicated practice in the command role and, more importantly, an agency-wide understanding of what’s in the play book: Standardization! A standard approach to managing incidents will help you remedy the chaos and enable you to hand over a well-organized incident to the first-arriving Chief.