Station #2 Brown Outs Update

According to Chief Cantrell, Copperopolis Fire Protection District's Station #2 on Quill Road in Copperopolis is scheduled with paid fire staff 24/7. A brown out will occur if paid staff calls in sick and there is no staff available to fill that vacant position. Station #2 has been staffed approximately 16 days this calendar month. The current staff at CFPD consists of one firefighter, three Engineers, one Engineer/Firefighter, and one Captain/Engineer/Paramedic, and one per diem Paramedic, rotating on a three on three off schedule. The low staffing makes covering a shift when a firefighter calls in sick or has an emergency "challenging."

It was brought to the attention of the Board at the CFPD Board meeting December 9, 2010 that the District was staffing Station #2 only intermittently.  At that time the Chief assured the citizens and the Board that volunteers were able to respond to calls coming from their personal homes and utilizing the equipment at the station to respond to a call. While this left remaining questions about response times and excessive reliance on volunteer staff, the Chief stood by his statment, reiterating that the District is a combination district.  A combination district is one that has both paid and volunteer firefighters.  "It was pretty clear when I became a volunteer that I was expected to be part of the crew, and that I had to be reliable." Said one volunteer firefighter.

According to CFPD Director John Maness, District policy mandates one Paramedic 24/7/365 and also two firefighters per engine 24/7/365. Staffing of Station #2 is beneficial to the community and district firefighters but is not mandatory under District policy, however, "providing the best coverage we can under the current fiscal circumstances" is Chief Cantrell's primary objective.

The next CFPD Board meeting is to be held January 13, 2011. For more Board information call 785-2393.