Fire chief summarizes mutual-aid deployments, hand‑crew shortages and Super Bowl hazmat assignment; consent calendar approved

At a meeting of the fire district board in Contra Costa County, Fire Chief Louis Bachman delivered the district's monthly status report, outlining recent mutual‑aid deployments across the state, staffing and resource challenges for hand crews, a nurse‑navigation pilot that has shifted nearly 300 calls, and the district's selection as the primary hazardous‑materials response team for the upcoming Super Bowl in Santa Clara County. The board approved the consent calendar by roll call before the report began.

Bachman told the board that the district sent engine strike teams, hand crews and bulldozer strike teams to fires across California, including a remote incident near the Oregon border that highlighted shortages of hand crews statewide. "Our hand crew was the very first hand crew to arrive at that fire," Bachman said, noting many hand crews formerly provided by CAL FIRE have been disbanded after legislative changes and that local governments now face greater demand.

The chief urged residents to prepare for seasonal fire risk and to sign up for county emergency alerts, saying, "please sign up for CWS alert. It's very quick and easy. Cwsalerts.com." He also reported the district deployed specialized resources for training with CAL FIRE, the sheriff's STAR unit and East Bay Regional Parks, including exercises using the helopod at the Marsh Creek Detention Facility.

On emergency medical services, Bachman said the district's nurse‑navigation program is in its fourth month and has shifted just under 300 calls to nurse navigation. The district's APOT (ambulance patient offload time) metric has averaged in the mid‑40 minutes recently and showed a slight improvement to just under 42 minutes countywide; John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek reduced 90th‑percentile offload times from 56 minutes in July to 36 minutes in September after local operational changes, Bachman said.

The district has placed an order for 20 additional ambulances, Bachman reported, and is negotiating a contract extension for emergency ambulance services with the Contra Costa County EMS Authority; the current contract expires Dec. 31 and the extension is expected to return to the board in November for consideration.

Bachman said California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) routinely reimburses training activities and supplies certain assets, but responses to incidents are typically borne by the responding agency. He described the hazardous‑materials team’s Super Bowl assignment as a response role requested by Cal OES to support Santa Clara County and said some additional interagency training tied to that assignment will be reimbursed by Cal OES.

The report covered facility and capital items: the district closed escrow on 1300 Civic Drive in downtown Walnut Creek to support a future replacement for Station 1 and to provide interim office and training space; the Byron Wildland Fire Center purchase is enabling negotiations to host a CAL FIRE hand crew alongside the district; construction continues on the downtown Brentwood station and environmental and design steps are underway for stations in Brentwood and Pacheco. The communications center received major electrical equipment deliveries and officials said a move‑in date around Christmas is targeted.

Bachman also noted an application submitted to the state to be included on a fire risk‑reduction community list that could provide insurance‑rate benefits if communities meet wildfire‑mitigation milestones. He reported a recent state emergency revision to the wildland‑urban interface code and ongoing discussions with the county’s building departments about local code adoption; the board's public hearing on code adoption is expected in early November.

Chief McAllister added facility details, saying the newly purchased downtown Walnut Creek property will provide space and relieve crowding at Station 1, and that the district ordered the ambulances and completed major repairs at the training facility. The chief and Bachman invited questions; Supervisor Anderson asked whether the district would incur costs to send HAZMAT staff to the Super Bowl. Bachman said training tied to Cal OES is reimbursed, while actual incident response is typically a district expense, but that the arrangement has been favorable in the past.

Before the report, the board approved the consent calendar by roll call. The meeting record shows affirmative votes from District 2, District 3, District 4 and District 5; the consent calendar was declared passed.

The district announced an open house at its training facility on Treat Street (Saturday the 11th, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.) with a pancake breakfast and invited the public to attend. Several items discussed — including the ambulance contract extension and code‑adoption hearing — are expected to return to the board for future formal action.