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Chico fire advocates urge downtown firefighting capacity; council workshop cites safety as top priority
Summary
During public comment at the March 19 workshop, local fire advocates highlighted a downtown staffing and equipment gap and urged the council to fund and staff a water-pumping engine at Station 1; the request fed into workshop objectives that placed safety as the council’s top priority.
Local fire advocates used the March 19 strategic-planning workshop to press the council for expanded downtown firefighting capacity and staffing.
Ken Smith, identifying himself in the transcript as representing “Chico Fire Party of 27 34” and serving as its president, told the council there is currently no water-pumping fire engine at the downtown station and urged the council to prioritize implementing “Engine 1” as a pumping engine. “We don’t have a water pumping fire engine at Station 1. Let’s keep it that simple,” Smith said.
Smith described the downtown area as having a high-risk profile because of the university campus, older structures and concentrated activity. He urged the council to consider a range of revenue options to staff and equip a pumping engine and said the department needs three personnel assigned when the engine is active: “We put 3 bodies on there, and we’re running engine 1, truck 1, we’re ready to fight.”
The matter was discussed in the workshop’s safety conversation: the council and consultant listed public-safety staffing and equipment, traffic safety and disaster resilience among the immediate objectives to be brought into the budget process. Morrison and council members tied staffing and equipment needs to the workshop’s top priority, a “safe community,” and said the consultant’s forthcoming plan and staff analyses should identify options and costs the council can consider during the coming fiscal-year budgeting process.
Ending: No formal staff report or council vote occurred on Engine 1 during the workshop. The request is on the record and will be considered as part of the safety objectives and budget items staff will prepare for council review.
