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Photography by Mark Kocina
New Saratoga Deputy Fire Chief Gordon Doncan said he isn't put-off by the politically-charged Saratoga fire station.
Sacramento firefighter named new deputy chief of Saratoga Fire District
By Oakley Brooks
Nine months after an independent consulting group recommended that the Saratoga Fire District hire a deputy chief, the district has filled that role with career Sacramento firefighter Gordon Doncan.
Doncan, 51, will help Chief Ernie Kraule with the management and training of firefighters at the Saratoga station. His leadership will extend into the field, where he will supervise calls for fire service.
Doncan's position was created as a result of last fall's DMG/Maximus report, which also suggested that the district cooperate more closely with surrounding fire districts and develop strategic plans for fighting fires that might occur in Saratoga's taller buildings.
In keeping with the recommendations, the district signed an extensive cooperative agreement with the Santa Clara County Fire District at the end of August. Kraule said he also expects to have a new truck equipped with a 75-foot aerial ladder within the next year.
For representatives of the Saratoga chapter of the International Association of Firefighters, the hiring of the deputy chief signals that district administration has taken another step toward reform.
"It means they are following the [DMG/Maximus] recommendations, and they're trying to be proactive," Union Secretary Parker Patri said recently.
Chief Kraule said he hopes Doncan will bring some continuity to the station by bridging the gaps between steadily changing shifts of firefighters. Doncan will keep more regular nine-to-five hours throughout the week, according to Kraule.
The newcomer will also take some of the district's administrative weight off Chief Kraule; the chief has been occupied in recent months with trying to finalize plans for a new 13,000-square-foot station, negotiating the aforementioned cooperative agreement with the county fire district and overseeing fire safety procedures at the expanding Saratoga Retirement Community.
"He's been doing so much he hasn't really kept in contact with the shifts," said Union President Bill Morrison.
Kraule admitted that the shift organization has been "somewhat in disarray" but he added, "I think the service has continued to be good--it will just get better now."
Doncan arrives in Saratoga after 23 years with the Sacramento City Fire Department. As a fire marshal with Sacramento, he has worked to ensure fire code compliance in state, county and city public buildings.
This January, as a battalion chief in Sacramento, Doncan oversaw the containment of the state capitol building fire. When a truck filled with canned milk slammed into the capitol and exploded, Doncan said that conventional firefighting wisdom called for him to wait 30 to 40 minutes for a secondary explosion generally associated with a terrorist attack.
But he and another commanding officer from a neighboring fire district agreed to go ahead and fight the fire immediately, and Doncan said the capitol building is operational today because firefighters got an early jump on the fire.
"We didn't go by the book," said Doncan.
Doncan has also had experience working under cooperative agreements between different fire departments. He recently was involved in a pact among five different Sacramento area departments that now allows the closest fire department to respond to a fire, regardless of whether that fire is outside the department's boundaries.
The agreement was akin to the one the Saratoga Fire District is poised to enter into with the county fire department.
"He's coming on board at the right time because we're starting this new phase of responding," said Chief Kraule.
Union Secretary Patri said that Doncan's Sacramento roots would be refreshing in what has been a highly charged fire station over the past two years.
"I'm glad to see someone from outside the county," said Patri. "He's not picking sides."
Since May, Doncan has been following the fierce debate as the Saratoga Fire District weighed contracting out fire service to another district and attempted to get new fire station plans approved by the city. He's not daunted by the depth of feelings on fire issues in Saratoga.
"Small districts are highly political," said Doncan. "There will always be some sort of political turmoil that goes along with fire service."
Union President Morrison said he felt Doncan might add a healthy layer of insulation between Kraule, who has been handling the station's political issues, and the station's three captains--of which Morrison is one.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
