HAPPY EASTER FROM YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 19, No. 16
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Community projects on the horizon
April 19, 2019
Every Fifteen Minutes
Hunting for spring
by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
Oakley’s long-awaited recreation center officially opened to the public last Saturday. But a number of other community improvement projects are also on the way, according to the city’s recently released Capital Improvement Program third quarter report. The update forecasts roadway improvements, continued work on a future downtown train platform station and parking lot, remodeled buildings, American with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements, an athletic field at Nunn-Wilson park and other enhancements. “In a very frugal and paced manner, the city is delivering a number of capital projects that enhance the quality of life and help make Oakley an even better community,” said Nancy Marquez-Suarez, human see Projects page 30
Students at Heritage High School participate in Every 15 Minutes program. Page 8
Honoring The Volunteers Photo by Tony Kukulich
N
ora England, Benjamin England and Emory McQuade studied flowers during April’s Big Break Littles program at Big Break Regional Shoreline in Oakley. Participants in the program – intended for children aged 1 through 5 – planted seeds, learned about bees and got a close look at plants, flowers and insects in the park with the help of park staff and volunteers. To view more photos of the event, visit www.thepress.net/multimedia/slideshows
Volunteer and paid-on-call firefighters of the East County fire districts honored. Page 7
Resources to fight East County fires reduced Baseball by Tony Kukulich Staff Writer
Upcoming changes to the automatic-aid agreement between the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) and the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (ConFire) will likely degrade ECCFPD response times and service levels. As ConFire deals with increasing demand on its resources within its own district, the new agreement attempts to reduce the number of units sent from ConFire to assist ECCFPD. ECCFPD will accomplish this, in part, by reducing the number of engines dispatched to a structure fire from the current county standard of five, to three. “For the start, it will be our three engines (with) nine firefighters, which is nowhere close to the indus-
“ For the start, it will be our three engines (with) nine firefighters, which is nowhere close to the industry standard that we need to keep our firefighters safe and our citizens safe.
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ECCFPD Fire Board President Brian Oftedal try standard that we need to keep our firefighters safe and our citizens safe,” said ECCFPD Fire Board President Brian Oftedal. “The direct impact is, most likely, delayed response times. Our response times are already outside of industry standards, and we have a lot of work to do with fewer resources responding and/or resources coming from farther distances. Our response times are going to be stretched.” ECCFPD, which includes the
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cities of Brentwood and Oakley, the town of Discovery Bay, along with Byron, Bethel Island, Knightsen and Morgan Territory, operates three stations. At any point, there are nine firefighters and a battalion chief responding to service calls in the district, which covers 249 square miles and 119,000 residents. While many of the 8,000 calls the district responds to in a year can be handled with one or two engines, an incident like a house fire draws a
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standard response of five engines. With only three stations in the district, ECCFPD is unable to provide all of the necessary resources to fight a residential fire. The automatic-aid agreement with ConFire fulfills the balance of resources by dispatching additional engines, usually from ConFire’s Battalion 8, which includes Antioch, Pittsburg and Bay Point. “Battalion eight is our busiestby-far battalion,” said ConFire Public Information Officer Steve Hill. “They are dispatched at higher levels than any of our other battalions, and that’s before we even get to the East Contra Costa requirement.” Due to increasing call volumes in Battalion 8, the level of resources that ConFire has historically prosee Fires page 30
Heartbreaker
Liberty baseball loses tough game to North Coast Section’s Acalanes. Page 21 Calendar................................31 Classifieds.............................25 Cop Logs................................29 Entertainment.....................11 Food........................................10 Health & Beauty....................6 Milestones............................12 Opinion..................................20 Pets.........................................18 Sports.....................................21
Maritime Training
Burgis Meeting
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Grays Historical Seaport, is accepting students for Merchant Mariner course.
Diane Burgis will convene an East County Nonprofit Roundtable on April 29.