San Jose Fire Department is more understaffed than Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles

Earlier this month, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan asked the city to assess how equipped its fire department is to handle a major fire event like the one in Los Angeles County. 

Dist. 7 council member Bien Doan served as a firefighter for nearly three decades and says funding in San Jose has dwindled over the last two decades.

"A lot of our constituents pay property taxes, but the majority of our property taxes go to the state and the county," Doan said. "So therefore, we need to leverage the resources from the county and state to do fire prevention and make sure that our citizens are safe."

According to the Mercury News, data shows San Jose has the lowest firefighter staffing level when compared with Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

In a statement, San JoseFire Chief Robert Sapien, Jr. said the department is making some progress thanks to 2018’s Measure T.

"We’re expanding our capacity with three brand new fire stations and four additional fire companies, increasing our daily minimum staffing from 190 to 202 personnel. These stations are strategically positioned to improve service coverage in high-demand areas," Sapien said. 

Still, Doan and San Jose’s firefighters union says budgetary restraints have made recruiting more difficult. 

Right now, San Jose has 632 firefighters but needs at least 700 to 1,000 firefighters to be properly staffed.

"We’re budgeted for 723, but the reality is, is that we don’t have a recruitment division," said Jerry May, of San Jose Firefighters Local 230. "We don’t have the ability to go out in our own community and get people to make a direct impact on the city of San Jose."

Doan said while they’re working to increase funding in San Jose, people should continue to educate themselves and prepare as much as they can for a major fire event.

San JoseNews