Mission Statement

The proud men and women of the Oakland Fire Department are committed to providing the highest quality and highest level of courteous and responsive services to the residents and visitors to Oakland.

This is accomplished by implementing comprehensive strategies and training in fire prevention, fire suppression, emergency medical services, and all risk mitigation including human-caused and natural disasters, emergency preparedness, 9-1-1 services and community-based fire services.

Learn more about who we are and what we do here.

SERVICE IMPACTS & EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS

Reductions

Community Safety, Prevention & Healing

1. Freezes 2 Fire Engines in each fiscal year through freezing a combined total of 38.0 FTE vacant Sworn positions. The first frozen Fire Engine is Fire Engine 25 which is new and has yet to be activated due ongoing firehouse renovations. The second frozen engine is a rotating engine company "brown-out" where the specific engine company affected will alternate within existing engine companies. The 25 fire engines are located to ensure sufficient span of control to allow for prompt and sufficient response for all call types. Delay of bringing a 25th engine company online and the rotating brownout of an additional engine will have an impact on emergency response. While the areas nearest to the browned-out engine company will be the most impacted with slower response times, Citywide response will also be affected as there will be decreased coverage overall and Oakland Fire Department (OFD) dispatch will have fewer options to rely upon. Staff is estimating that 7-8 calls per day for emergency medical responses may not meet the NFPA standard. These delays will have real life implications for residents, businesses and property owners and renters, and visitors of Oakland.
   • Equity Consideration: When implementing a “brown out” where fire engines are temporarily shuttered to reduce service costs, the locations that are chosen to have shuttered engines matter because nearby residents have less options and receive slower responses. As a result, they can receive potentially lower quality of care and have reduced potential for a positive outcome for that emergency response. The Oakland Fire Department will consider as a part of its “brown out” implementation plan how to mitigate the impact of its temporary fire engine closures on Oakland’s neighborhoods that contain Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) residents to ensure that the neighborhoods with the highest existing inequities have their services reduced the least often. The browned-out engine company will be rotated in a data informed manner to mitigate the most negative impacts of reduced service.
2. Freezes vacant 1.0 FTE Battalion Chief (80 Hr.) that would represent the department on the City’s interdepartmental Computer Aided Dispatching (CAD) project. The CAD system will allow Oakland’s public safety operations and communications to be augmented, assisted, or partially controlled by an automated system. Without this position, the workload will be passed to Department Management to ensure that CAD’s planning is not compromised.
   • Equity Consideration: Oakland Fire and all first responders will rely on a reliable CAD system for years ahead to facilitate incident response and communication in the field, ensuring prompt effective responses to our most vulnerable community members who rely on Fire and EMS response often as a critical care provider in place of traditional health care options. Department Management will provide oversight in the CAD design to ensure its planning considers the needs of Oakland’s BIPOC communities in emergency situations.

Clean, healthy, sustainable neighborhoods

1. Freezes vacant 1.0 FTE Assistant Sworn Fire Marshal in the Fire Prevention Division. This position plans, organizes, assists and directs day-to-day activities within the Fire Prevention Division, which is responsible for fire prevention, investigation, and commercial inspections. Without this position, Department Management will have to work with existing staff to ensure inspections are proceeding in a timely manner.
   • Equity Consideration: This position oversees the work of The Vegetation Management Unit (VMU) which serves to inspect properties in the Oakland Hills to identify and mitigate hazards that could contribute to the spread, growth, and intensity of a wildfire. The Oakland Hills are the geographical part of the City where the least amount of Oakland’s low-income BIPOC residents live, so freezing this position will not create a negative equity impact on Oakland’s BIPOC communities.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGETARY CHANGES

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

POSITION INFORMATION