'Gambling with lives of Oakland residents': Firefighters sound alarm over station closures

Oakland, California - Oakland firefighters took to City Hall's front steps on Monday to warn of dire consequences if city officials, elected and appointed, do not stop closing fire stations. 

Only the sale of the Oakland Coliseum property can ward off an unprecedented downsizing of a city proven highly vulnerable to fires and earthquakes.

The next Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting is Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. 

The singular question for Oakland firefighters who want to save their 156-year-old department is: Can they sound the alarm loud enough to serve 8,000 fire and medical service calls a year? 

Residents in 10 hill communities, from part of Shepard Canyon to Grass Valley, more than six miles west, will be the most impacted, given longer travel times from available remaining stations.  

"You will not quickly have paramedics to help you or your family. In what could've been a small blaze or a small fire near your house will become a conflagration leaving tragedy in its wake," said Oakland Firefighters Union official Seth Olyer.

RELATED: Two Oakland fire stations will temporarily close amid city's budget shortfall

Then consider four more station closings next month. 

"Chief Covington has been very clear that while these two additional closures are difficult, the four additional closures are going to be impossible," said Olyer. 

"The city administrator is gambling with the lives of Oakland residents," said firefighter Chris Robinson.

Then there are the voters who fully understand the power of recalls, including incoming member of council Zac Unger, himself a former fighter. 

"The closure of seven firehouses would be the end of the Oakland Fire Department as we know it. We simply cannot afford to close that many stations. That is a third of our firefighting capacity,"  Unger said.

The voters agree. 

"Already our police services are being cut. The response time. If you've got a burglary, you're not getting an officer. You have to be in absolute physical distress to get an immediate response," said Oakland Hills resident Nicholas Green. 

Another resident agreed.

"What are they [going to] do if there's a major fire of a flood or anything? We need this like food and water. We need police and we need fire stations," said resident Mike Johnson.

One resident says she keeps a go bag by her door. 

"That will have a direct effect on me if you can't get there? The person that I am, I'm always going to be ready to leave. The people and the citizens of Oakland and the residents still have a right to have normal protection," said Rhonda Lewis.

When it comes to medical response, seconds count. 

With fires, seconds affect smoke inhalation and, most of all, flashover when the heat builds to a temperature where everything in the room ignites all at once. 

"Anywhere between thirty seconds and sixty seconds, a fire doubles in size," said firefighter Olyer

One station that can't close – Jack London Square, which protects many buildings from long train crossings or derailments, and the airport by federal law. 

The new city council will have to deal with next month's possible closure of four stations.