Contra Costa County

East Contra Costa County gets a Wildland Fire Center to meet growing demand for fire response

Byron facility will be home to the county's Wildland Fire Hand Crew

NBC Universal, Inc.

On Thursday, Contra Costa County gained a little more muscle in the battle to respond to wildfires in the eastern part of the county.

The county opened a new wildfire response hub in Byron to train and support crews responding to wildland fires. Fire crews and local leaders joined together to cut the ribbon at the property on Bixler Road in Byron as onlookers applauded.

Contra Costa County Fire Protection District explained that this site is the new home for the county's "Crew 12" Wildland Hand Crew. This site will also serve as a training facility where crews can practice skills like creating fire breaks.

"The new facility here has given us an opportunity to become better at what we do," explained Antonio Garibay, who works as a squad boss for the county's Hand Crew.

This center will be staffed with eighteen people a day (sixteen crew members and two captains) seven days a week, the fire district said.

The site where this center is housed was formerly the Orin Allen Youth Rehabilitation Facility, which the county closed in 2023.

Fire district leaders said that in January when they came to check out the facility, it was "in a state of disrepair." But by Thursday, the grounds had been cleaned up and fire crews escorted visitors on tours.

The center is now home to sleeping quarters, a gym, a place to repair tools, a cafeteria, and more.

Contra Costa County District 3 Supervisor Diane Burgis noted, "Just a few years ago, there were only nine people from three stations protecting 250 square miles, today we have over nineteen folks in our stations, plus now we have this facility."

Burgis said that this center is one piece of what the region will need to do to combat the growing number of fires. She encouraged residents to manage the plants around their property to make it easier for fire crews to help in an emergency.

Burgis is hoping that these efforts might show insurance companies, who have been dropping a growing number of California customers, that the area is safe to insure.

"If we have resources, if we’re doing vegetation management, if we’re all doing personal responsibility, we’re hoping that that will make a difference," she said.

"But it's still a big question mark," Burgis added.

Fire crews told NBC Bay Area that the demand for wildland fire response in Eastern Contra Costa County is growing.

"A majority of our fires we've seen this year have been in this area of the county, so being stationed here, we've had much shorter response times and we've been able to get there much sooner," said Captain David Woods, who works with the Contra Costa Fire Hand Crew.

Woods pointed to the dry, brown hills around the center, noting it's not hard to see the fire risk nearby. The burn scars from the recent Corral Fire in San Joaquin County are actually visible from the training center site.

"As the communities out here are expanding into Wildland Urban Interface, the cities are still expanding out to our hills," noted Woods.

This wildland crew says they want to be ready, both for an expected increase in population nearby, and the growing increase in wildfire risk.

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