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Vol. 18, No. 32
YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Fourth station not enough to fix problem by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
East Contra Costa Fire reopened its Knightsen station in July, but critical issues remain for the four-station district, Fire Chief Hugh Henderson told the fire board this week. “We are still averaging about eight hours a month that we have no resources, so we are no where from fixing this problem,” Henderson said. “We need to continue to focus on letting people know the situation that we are in.” Response times district wide improved by six seconds to 8 minutes, 21 seconds with the fourth
station in service in July, but many calls went unanswered due to all resources being tied up. Eight times during July, all resources were tied, totaling 11 hours, 38 minutes of time where no district engines were available to respond to calls. During that period, ambulances handled medical calls, and mutual aide from Contra Costa Fire, Alameda County Fire, San Ramon Valley Fire and Federal Fire out of Concord were required to handle fire calls. The district’s vulnerability was especially apparent on July 2, 3 and 4, when the district handled 84 calls see Station page 30
The gang’s all here!
Hunting For Stories Photo by Tony Kukulich
F
rom left, Diego Lopez, Andrew Warner, Marjuan Collins and Ryan Wakely, all Garin Elementary School fifth graders, stop for a quick photo before heading back to the classroom this week for the first day of school.
by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
Photo by Kyle Szymanski
Residents along Balfour Road are concerned the county will remove this 130-year-old pepper tree to accommodate a roadway-widening project.
Contra Costa County will soon widen a stretch of Balfour Road to improve safety for motorists and bicyclists, but the removal of trees to accommodate the project isn’t sitting well with at least one local resident. The project will construct 12-foot-wide travel lanes with 6-foot-wide shoulder bike lanes on Balfour Road from Bixler Avenue to Sellers Avenue, but it will require the removal of at least 30 trees. While county officials are still in the process of acquiring land to complete the project, Balfour Road resident Dan Habig believes the county will have to remove a 130-year-old pepper tree inside his see Tree page 30
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Dancing To The Music
From classic rock and pop, to country and blues, it’s all here for area music lovers. Page 6
Road project puts 130-year-old tree in peril
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August 5, 2016
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Contra Costa Library offers free mass transit passes with Discover & Go.
Brentwood Library hosts first StoryWalk, inviting residents to stroll and read. Page 4
Chasing The Olympic Dream
Heritage tae kwon do fighter CJ Nickolas is pursuing a place in the 2020 Olympics. Page 21 Calendar................................31 Classifieds.............................26 Cop Logs................................29 Entertainment.....................11 Food........................................10 Health & Beauty..................14 Milestones............................25 Opinion..................................20 Pets.........................................15 Sports.....................................21
Delta Diablo
go to news/press releases Delta Diablo expands residential recycled water fill station hours on Wednesdays.