Oakland temporarily closes two fire stations, with several additional ‘brownouts’ likely on the way
OAKLAND — The city will rely on the wet winter and early spring months to afford the temporary closure of two fire stations until June, an effort to help resolve a crippling budget crisis that promises more cuts in the coming weeks.
One station set to be closed is near Joaquin Miller Park and the other is on Grass Valley Road near Chabot Regional Park. Both are in more forested areas of Oakland that fetch fewer emergency calls outside the peak wildfire months, fire officials said Friday.
Four additional fire stations are expected to be “browned out” next month, but their locations have yet to be determined. City officials said they are negotiating with the firefighters’ union, IAFF Local 55, to see if the union could possibly concede some salary to stave off those temporary closures.
The cuts announced Friday signaled yet more consequences from the city’s $130 million budget deficit, which is expected to result next month in somewhere around 91 layoffs to the city’s workforce. Combined, the two brownouts will save roughly $5 million.
“We are looking at all angles to make sure that we’ve covered ourselves with these station closures,” Oakland Fire Chief Damon Covington said Friday at a news conference.
Three of the projected layoffs would be to staff positions in the Oakland Fire Department, which is second only to the police department in demanding the largest portions of the city’s general purpose fund that pays for salaries and operating expenses.
Several other fire stations — including one on Skyline Boulevard in the Oakland Hills — will carry the load for the city’s emergency response while the two stations are closed.
On Friday, the Skyline station was cloaked in fog, a hopeful sign that moist conditions could delay a tricky blaze like the Keller Fire, which in October burned 15 acres above the Eastmont hills.
All but one of the city’s 25 fire stations respond to day-to-day incidents, with the other being located at the Oakland airport.
Union leaders have consistently pushed back on station closures and talks of layoffs. Seth Olyer, the soon-to-be new president of IAFF Local 55, said Friday that renegotiating the union’s labor contract isn’t off the table.
“Our workload is heavier than most departments in the Bay Area, just based on our fire load and call volume and everything else,” Olyer said in an interview.
“My members have been forced to do more with less for a long time,” he added. “I jokingly say the Oakland Fire Department runs on bungee cords and duct tape.”
Last month, the City Council approved new budget changes, including controls on the Oakland Police Department’s overtime spending and a potential merger of the Department of Transportation with the Public Works Department, to save extra cash.
Even tapping restricted funds and the city’s emergency reserve appear unlikely to stave off some layoffs, with the sale of the city’s Coliseum share still pending.
But the council did approve a new clause to its budget strategy: the first revenue to arrive from the $125 million Coliseum deal will immediately be directed toward reversing the temporary fire station closures.
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at shomik@bayareanewsgroup.com.