Month: May 2013

The Davis Enterprise, in their Sunday column, praised the actions of the Davis City Council, writing, “Despite protestations that Davis’ public safety will be compromised, a majority of the Davis City Council took a courageous stand Tuesday and voted to adopt a new fire staffing model.”  They argue, “Money-saving change will not jeopardize public safety.”

“Currently, each of the city’s three fire stations is staffed with four firefighters per shift. Under the new, more flexible configuration, three firefighters will man each station – in Central, West and South Davis – and a second, two-person crew will staff a rescue truck stationed downtown that will serve as an emergency rover,” the paper writes, adding, “While all concerned acknowledge that four firefighters are better than three, this configuration actually will provide more stable emergency service throughout Davis.”

The council cast their 3-2 vote on Tuesday, but it is clear that the war is not over on the issue of fire staffing.  In a piece co-authored by Alan Fernandes, Lori Duisenberg, Gina Nunes and Sean Cowan, “We value our firefighters” they write, “Every time we hear the wail of a siren, or jog past the fire station, or hear news of a local tragedy; we are thankful for our first responders, and in particular the firefighters in Davis.”

The reality is that no one thinks otherwise in this community.  The three councilmembers who cast the deciding votes on Tuesday all took time to praise the firefighters.  It was Councilmember Rochelle Swanson, however, who admonished the opposition that, just because people are not favoring the status quo does not mean they are anti-firefighter.

There was a moment on Tuesday night when Davis Fire Captain Joe Tenney was expressing his frustration that there were people “telling us how the fire department should be run.”  He added, “It would be nicer if there was a fire chief who was vested, you know actually committed to being here for five or ten years to actually put together a professional program.”

“We have experts, those who have been doing it for 20, 25, 30 years,” he said.  “They are the experts, the experts are those who have been here tonight that are doing it every day.  And it doesn’t match up.  We can see between the lines of the information that’s been given.”

If it seems like I have been fighting this battle for a long time, it is because I have.  It was nearly five years ago, that I realized, despite the justifications for four on an engine, most fire stations have three on an engine.  While it is true that they have more fire stations than Davis, it is also true that Davis has one of the fewest calls for service per capita of comparable communities.

Couple that information with the asset that we have at UC Davis, and suddenly we have a no-brainer.  While I disagree with the council on a number of their points of justification, I understand that, unlike them, I am not running for political office and I can say this: the current system makes little sense from a public safety standpoint, and looking at a map makes it clear we need to move the central fire station.

Nearly six months after Chief Scott Kenley’s  audit report recommended the city move from four on an engine down to three, the Davis City Council voted by a 3-2 margin to reduce overall staffing to 11 firefighters while looking at either moving or adding a fire station in northern Davis to better align the city’s resources.

Councilmember Brett Lee moved the staff report.  His motion was seconded by Councilmember Rochelle Swanson who stipulated that her support was conditioned on approval of a friendly amendment that would call for the city to either move the central fire station to the northeast of central Davis or add one in the future.