Closed fire station leads to delayed response to Oakland hills house fire
OAKLAND, Calif. - A three-bedroom home went up in flames early Wednesday in the Oakland hills as firefighters arrived later than usual because a nearby station was closed due to budget cuts.
"When I went outside thinking that the Fire Department was going to be here relatively quickly, I didn't hear anything," said Rosemary Gray, who called 911 when she realized her neighbor's home on Lochard Street in the Chabot Park neighborhood was on fire.
The blaze was reported at 1:06 a.m. However, it took the first firefighters 11 minutes to arrive because the city shut down Fire Station 28, which was just minutes away on Grass Valley Road, as a result of budget cuts.
"I don't think you get to compromise my safety," Gray said. "I think that I am a property taxpayer, I think I paid for the service, I think that I should get the service that I paid for."
Seth Olyer, president of the Oakland firefighters union said, "This fire was so well-involved, because it had three times the amount of time to get going, that we ended up having to stay defensive here."
Olyer was among the firefighters who battled the flames from the outside, instead of going in.
"This is just a real-world example of what can happen when you have a delayed response of nearly three times the national standard for response," Olyer said.
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"The people and the citizens of Oakland and the residents still have a right to have normal protection," one resident said Monday.
Fire Chief Damon Covington said the neighborhood is extremely fortunate that the fire didn't spread to other homes or to the surrounding hillside.
"Any way you look at it, it puts us in peril," Covington said. "It puts us at a weaker work force. We don't have our full complement of firefighters and, in this instance, it could have been disastrous."
No one was living inside the home at the time. The new owners had been renovating the home for the past several months.
There were no injuries, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
A Tesla charger attached to the wall of the home appeared intact, but the residence has been red-tagged, deemed a total loss.
Former Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong lives in the neighborhood.
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"So scary for all of us," Armstrong said. "It was the first time I've ever had to actually pack bags and tell my family, 'Hey, we gotta get out of here."
Armstrong added, "And I thought as someone who's been in law enforcement nearly 30 years, that I was prepared, but now we know after last night, we need to be better prepared."
For now, the fire station in the neighborhood and Fire Stattion 25 near Joaquin Miller Park will remain closed through the end of June.
Councilmember Janani Ramachandran and the Fire Department will hold an online town hall to discuss the station closures at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Henry Lee is a KTVU reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan