For the first time in 23 years, all of Oakland’s fire houses will soon be open and operational at the same time, Oakland Fire Department officials said Monday.
On Sunday, most of the city’s 26 fire stations were up and running despite Oakland’s ongoing and drastic budgetary struggles, said OFD Chief Damon Covington.
“This is great news for Oakland,” Covington said. “It’s been a long time coming.” Three of the city’s fire stations have been closed for some time now — one due to a remodeling project that’s a few weeks from completion and two others that were shuttered on a rotating basis due to the city’s efforts to close a nearly $130 million budget deficit for the fiscal year ending June 30.
In February, City Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan, Janani Ramachandran and Zachary Unger presented the council with an option to use $2.6 million from the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority to help keep the two stations open.
The money was available because it was above what was forecast to come in from the Coliseum for concerts, sports and other events.
But that money is only for the short term and Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkin’s budget proposal still includes one fire house “brown out.”
The City Council has yet to take up the budget, but if it’s approved as submitted, one station would be closed for three months or so at a time on a rotating basis throughout the city, Covington said.
“The next phase of the budget does call for one additional brown out,” he said. “We’re still waiting to see what ultimately happen with that.”
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