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Gordon Doncan
Storm at fire station clears, firefighters 'enjoying' work
By Oakley Brooks
The cloud of hard feelings that hung over the Saratoga Fire District for almost two years seems to have broken up, as firefighters say a new cooperative agreement between the district and the surrounding Santa Clara County Fire Department, along with staffing changes, have improved morale at the Village station.
In the fall of 1999, Saratoga firefighters began pushing to join the county department in order to put more equipment and staffing at each fire. That stance put them at odds with the district administration and temporarily stalled plans for a new fire station.
A year ago, a pack of citizens joined with frustrated firefighters to urge administrators to contract out day-to-day operations to the county. Known as the Firefighters and Citizens Task force, the group continually challenged the long-entrenched fire commission, confronting commissioners and appealing to the city council with strong, emotional language.
Then in June of last year, commissioners met the coalition halfway by agreeing to a "boundary drop" agreement with the county. The pact meant the two adjoining districts--which split coverage of Saratoga--would assist each other in responding to every fire, and it provided Saratoga Fire District personnel with the extra staffing they sought.
But resentment lingered through a city repeal of the district's plans for a new station and, finally, through a hard-fought commissioners' election. On both issues, the administration and the majority of firefighters took opposite sides.
"I never saw animosity like that," says Bob Egan, the chairman of the district commission and a 25-year commissioner.
Today, one can hardly sense the storm that once swirled around the station.
Firefighters and commissioners who once looked down their noses at each other have once again become cordial.
Engineer Mike Buress, who worked with the task force, had a hearty "Hello" for Egan last week as he passed him in the Saratoga Avenue station.
"We've gotten past the negativity," Buress says. "We're no longer politicians; we're back to being firefighters.
Firefighters and commissioners were happy to finish the November election--in which incumbent Jay Geddes and volunteer firefighter Joe Long defeated task force candidates Barry Ford and Dave Dolloff.
But firefighters say substantive changes at the station have caused the difference in attitudes.
In the last several months, the administration promoted nine staff members. That included three new captains, which means both of the first-wave engines out of the Saratoga Avenue station will have a qualified officer on board.
The administration also hired veteran Sacramento firefighter Gordon Doncan as a deputy chief in August. After six months on the job, the straight-shooting Doncan has drawn warm reviews from the line firefighters--"He's been a breath of fresh air," says Buress.
Doncan has made the boundary drop with the county department his top priority.
The agreement between the county and the Saratoga district makes geographic sense--it allows the closest engines from either department to respond to an emergency regardless of where the incident is in the oddly shaped Saratoga Fire District or the surrounding county-covered area.
Because the two departments are linked to a single dispatch line, Doncan says they can team up to put 13 firefighters at each local fire in an average of six minutes. It used to take that long to put seven Saratoga firefighters at an incident, and another 15 to 30 minutes to fill in the remaining staff.
The system also lays out a plan to automatically fill in the empty Saratoga station with county equipment and personnel when Saratoga district firefighters respond to a call.
And in the event of a major fire, Doncan says a second wave of equipment and personnel from surrounding departments would respond more quickly--although this component of the boundary drop has yet to be put to the test.
"The fact that we have more equipment on the job makes it easier for me--I don't have to worry about backup or how we're going to fill the station," says Capt. Bill Morrison, who is president of the local chapter of International Firefighters Association.
Doncan says there was some confusion in the initial weeks of the boundary drop, as certain trucks were dispatched into areas of Saratoga and surrounding land where they were not designated as the first responders under the agreement. But Doncan insisted that firefighters stick with the new dispatching and work through the glitches: "I told them if this boundary drop fails, it's not going to be because of the Saratoga Fire District," he says.
The district has had to make adjustments in the original boundary drop agreement it signed. It had agreed to purchase a truck with a 75-foot aerial ladder on it, followed by a new four-wheel drive engine for hillside fire fighting. However, the new Village station that would house the new equipment is still only in the planning stages--as part of the proposed public safety center--and neither the current station nor a possible temporary station on the old Contempo Realty property could house the large aerial truck.
The district recently asked a local committee overseeing the boundary drop operation to allow an engine purchase before the aerial truck.
Commissioner Jay Geddes recently wondered if the district should withdraw from the boundary drop because there was no place to store an aerial truck. Task force member Kevin Schott told the city council last month that Geddes might be looking for a way out of the boundary drop.
But Doncan says the boundary drop oversight committee--made up of city officials and citizens--has approved the change in the order of equipment purchase. And he says the district has no intention of backing out of the boundary drop contract.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
