Fire Chief Promises Immediate Training for Alhambra Valley Reserves

With some youngsters holding signs that read “Please Protect Us,” more than 100 members of the rural Briones community in the Alhambra Valley met in a horse barn among bales of hay Saturday, July 30 to hear Contra Costa Consolidated Fire Chief Daryl Louder promise immediate training for the ten reserves of Fire Station 19 in the latest medical response and exterior firefighting techniques.

Residents left the meeting with a sense of “cautious optimism” about the future of fire protection in their area.

Louder was invited to meet with the Briones residents – a community in the unincorporated Alhambra Valley -- to address their concerns about losing the fire station, and earlier, unkept promises by Con Fire to provide necessary training to the reserve firefighters. The meeting was organized by attorney Bill Foley and hosted by Hetty Dutra, who owns Hossmoor horse ranch.

Foley said he has been trying to get answers from the fire district since 2008, when it was announced that Station 19 would close due to budgetary constraints and lack of reserve training. After three years of attempting to work with the fire district and Contra Costa County officials, Foley said "I felt like a small child being patted on the head and told 'it's going to be ok.'"

The situation was made worse earlier this year, when a fire station in Pinole closed down.

Station 19 has remained open, and staffed with reserves, and Louder promised to keep it that way at the meeting.

“We’re fortunate to have volunteer service in Briones,” Louder told the crowd. “I believe we can meet the needs and the expectations of the community and the reserves. I commit to you today that we will provide training for emergency medical service, defensive fire operations and to support the station and its apparatus.”

“Our children are here for hours a week,” said Cathy Cutler of Concerned Parents of Riders, a group representing horseback riders. “We need to know they’re going to be safe.”

Louder said that the district will continue to respond with emergency evacuation helicopters and fire units from Martinez, Lafayette, Orinda and Pinole in medical and fire emergencies. But the reserves from Station 19 will also continue to play a critical role in responding.

The reserves will be evaluated for whatever training they may need, he said, in emergency medical response and defensive exterior fire support. More extensive training and equipment is required for interior firefighting, he added.

“The reserves know exactly where all of us live,” said Dutra. “These are dedicated people who have spent years performing a great service for our community. What I want is for the fire district to restore the role they used to have in our community.”

Louder said the training would begin immediately, and said firefighters from Martinez would meet at least twice monthly with the Station 19 reserves.