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‘A Tragedy Waiting to Happen’: Oakland Shutters 2 Fire Stations

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Oakland Fire Department Station 28 on Jan. 5, 2025, located on Grass Valley Road in the East Oakland Hills. It's one of two stations that is closed until June. In 2023, fire station 28 responded to 405 calls. (David M. Barreda/KQED)

Wildfires in Los Angeles have brought fire department budgets under scrutiny. In Oakland, the recent closures of two fire stations in the city’s hills have left firefighters warning of a tragedy waiting to happen. 


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This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.

Cecilia Lei [00:00:58] So Katie, Oakland has had to make some tough budget decisions, including to the fire department. Explain to me what was cut.

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Katie DeBenedetti [00:01:07] Yeah, so the cuts are pretty broad. 92 layoffs across city departments. They’ve been shifting money for affordable housing, but most notably is the fire and police department cuts. Two fire stations were shut down last week and a third that has been closed for repairs will stay closed for the time being. As soon as next month, four more stations could shutter as well.

Cecilia Lei [00:01:40] Okay. So the two stations that are temporarily closed at the moment. Tell us about the neighborhood or area where they’re located.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:01:48] Yeah. Both are kind of up towards the Oakland Hills station. 25 is near Joaquin Miller Park, and Station 28 is by the Lake Chabot Golf Course.

Cecilia Lei [00:02:01] And this is an area that has this history of devastating wildfires. Is that right?

Katie DeBenedetti [00:02:07] Yeah. So in 1991, the Oakland Hills firestorm really devastated about two and a half miles of residential land just north of Station 25.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:02:29] And then this October, the Keller fire, which wasn’t super destructive, but fire officials have kind of warned, could have been if they weren’t there so quickly, started in the hills, pretty much right between stations 25 and 28.

Cecilia Lei [00:02:44] So with that history in mind, why would Oakland decide to close those particular stations?

Damon Covington [00:02:51] Station 21, where we are today is going to handle the bulk of the responsibility of those two districts.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:02:57] Fire chief Damon Covington said that the stations were chosen in part because another of the city’s stations is pretty squarely in between the two.

Damon Covington [00:03:05] While it will definitely alter our delivery model. We still show up when you call 911.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:03:13] Because it’s been a pretty wet winter so far and fire risk is somewhat low, they haven’t been super concerned about wildfires starting in the hills right now. They also looked at the number of calls stations get when deciding to close these spots. And he said that if it was the height of summer, they probably would have looked at different stations because of fire season.

Damon Covington [00:03:39] There are no firehouses that we can afford to close. We need every firehouse we have and then some. But we feel like we can adequately cover these two firehouses and make sure that our community still receives the high level of service that they’re that they’ve become accustomed to.

Cecilia Lei [00:03:58] So, Katie, we know that the city of Oakland is facing this really massive budget deficit. Break it down for me. Why are these particular public safety cuts happening?

Katie DeBenedetti [00:04:10] So these cuts are partly the result of a preexisting budget deficit. Oakland has been overspending for years and dug itself into a really significant long term shortfall. But it was exacerbated this year by a deal that former Mayor Sheng Thao’s budget included in the budget that was passed in July. It used one time funds from selling Oakland’s stake in the Coliseum, where the A’s used to play to fill in about $60 million of a budget gap. Payments from the developers who were buying the Coliseum didn’t come in on time. And in September, payments stalled. The city’s budget administrator has the power to initiate spending cuts from a big menu of options, including fire services. And because fire and police departments spend a lot of the city’s budget, they kind of got pulled in pretty quickly.

Cecilia Lei [00:05:10] And then what were the reactions to this? Once the city decided that these two stations would temporarily close. What did the community say?

Katie DeBenedetti [00:05:18] The firefighter union has been really vocal that closing these stations is going to hurt their ability to respond to calls quickly. A lot of people living in the Oakland Hills also have been there for decades. And remember the terror that they felt during the 1991 fire. Some people don’t have fire insurance. There’s been a lot of fear and a lot of anger.

Zac Unger [00:05:41] There are no parts of the city of Oakland that can afford to be without fire protection.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:05:45] Zac Unger is a new city council member. And until he was sworn in, he was actually a firefighter in the city.

Zac Unger [00:05:53] So I know firsthand the incredible dangers that our firefighters face here in Oakland and the incredible work that they do. So I think that protecting our ability to fight fire in Oakland is really paramount.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:06:05] He is really worried about the domino effect that closing fire stations could have and has said that without the current stations, fire protection will be very different in Oakland.

Zac Unger [00:06:19] And it means that not just the firehouses that are closed, but every neighborhood in Oakland is affected by all of the fire houses scrambling to cover greater territories.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:06:28] Councilmember Zac Unger says that the fire department is often the first on the scene. And in some of those more remote areas of the city, when someone falls or has a heart attack or another medical emergency and those can be really time sensitive. And when your first responders are coming from further away, that could be the difference between like life and death.

Cecilia Lei [00:06:51] Now, you mentioned that fire risk is likely low right now for the Oakland Hills. But why are firefighters still worried?

Seth Olyer [00:06:59] I don’t feel relaxed any time of the year when it comes to wildfires.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:07:04] Seth Olyer, who’s the president of the Oakland Firefighters Union, has said that there is no fire season.

Seth Olyer [00:07:12] Year round, ee’ve had red flag warnings in January. We’ve had, you know, large fires up in the hills on years where we didn’t have the same levels of rainfall that we have now. But then most importantly, we frequently have house fires, especially up in the hill areas.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:07:27] You know, the city has had rain and the risk is low right now. But you can never be sure that a fire won’t break out. And the cuts are expected to continue through the start of the summer when fire risk ramps back up.

Seth Olyer [00:07:41] So it’s not just the wildfire threat. It’s all of these houses packed in the wildfire threat zone with poor access for water supply. Houses are on top of one another, literally. And, you know, one of the main concerns is just response times.

Cecilia Lei [00:07:59] And, Katie, this conversation is so timely as we’re talking about what’s happening in Oakland with budget and resources to fire departments, because so many of us are just watching these fires down in Los Angeles with so much concern. And I think everyone is wondering, how did it get so bad? And I’ve been seeing and many people have been seeing this chatter on social media with people pointing to budget cuts to the fire department down there. What’s being said?

Katie DeBenedetti [00:08:32] There’s been scrutiny from pretty much across the board in the days after the Eaton and Palisades fires broke out that the L.A. Fire Department’s budget had been cut about $17 million this year. There’s been some back and forth over how much of that money was for vacant positions or administrative costs versus, you know, money to pay for fire services. But at least some of it was used to pay for overtime training and 60 civilian positions. There’s been a lot of groups saying that these cuts really have hurt the department’s ability to prepare for disasters and and that the fire department needs more funding. The police department in L.A. got a big budget raise this year. And so I think a lot of people have been pointing to that and kind of saying that, you know, these first responders that we really need are losing services while the police department, which, you know, has come under scrutiny before, is is gaining money. Mayor Karen Bass said she doesn’t think that the funding cut impacted the fire department’s ability to fight these current fires. But in December, the fire chief there sent a memo to the board of commissioners warning that the loss of funds would hurt the department’s ability to train for and respond to wildfires and other disasters.

Cecilia Lei [00:09:54] Can any parallels be drawn between what’s happening in L.A. and what could happen in Oakland?

Katie DeBenedetti [00:10:02] The 1991 fire destroyed a lot of residential area, which isn’t super common. And you also have the full fire department now warning about how dangerous the cuts that they’re facing are. Which is similar to Los Angeles as well. I think people see it as a warning.

Seth Olyer [00:10:22] I’m not a Southern California guy, but Malibu and Altadena and all these other places are exactly the same.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:10:28] Seth Olyer, who’s the president of the Oakland Firefighters Union, said that the Oakland Hills has really similar terrain to the Palisades and some of the other neighborhoods that have been hit hard in Southern California.

Seth Olyer [00:10:41] They are exactly the same as far as difficult access for fire engines, for sure, any emergency vehicles, even cars.

Katie DeBenedetti [00:10:53] I think when four more stations are likely closed next month Olyer said that he can’t remember a time in his career in Oakland when that many stations have been closed. So I think there’s also just a real element of the unknown and fear around that.

Seth Olyer [00:11:14] While the 1991 fire is something to reference, the most important example would be the Keller Fire recently, the boots on the ground right away made the difference between houses on Campus Drive becoming foundations only. Kind of like you’ve seen, I’m sure, with all this stuff happening down in L.A. So the sooner you get resources there, the better the outcome is across the board.

Cecilia Lei [00:11:43] So what happens now with these two stations? They’re temporarily closed until when? And then what happens at that point?

Katie DeBenedetti [00:11:51] So they’re closed through the rest of this fiscal year, which ends at the end of June. After that, I think it’s widely hopes that they’ll reopen. But it’s unknown. The biggest thing is the sale of the coliseum. The city council has already said the first $7 million in revenue from that deal will go to restoring fire services. And everyone on the council seems really aligned that the fire department is a top priority. Fire Station 10 has been closed since 2022 when it shut down for repairs and along with the six stations that either have closed or might close because of budget cuts. That station is going to remain closed and that’s been kind of less discussed. But, you know, the fire officials are saying it’s really seven stations that they’re operating without. And so I think there’s fear that once stations are closed, it’s a little easier to quietly not reopen them then to close more.

Cecilia Lei [00:12:53] So as we’re talking about what’s happening in Oakland and obviously the backdrop of the devastation in Los Angeles, there’s this scrutiny around accountability. And so this conversation maybe sounds different from fire seasons past where there was just this more focus on climate change. But now it feels like it’s more about local governance and accountability.

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Katie DeBenedetti [00:13:16] Yeah, I think it definitely is. Climate change is going to and has been impacting fire season. I think it’s just hard for a lot of people to reckon with the city not being as ready as possible if there were to be a dangerous wildfire. You know, we’re also talking a lot right now about preparedness when it comes to the Trump administration. And we’ve seen that even playing out in L.A. And I think Oakland is similarly worried. Trump has said he would not send federal aid, and it’s been super necessary down in L.A. and without a fully staffed fire department here, I’m sure it would be very necessary as well.

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