Unique “Battalion 7” Partnership Ensures West County Residents
Receive State-of-the-Art Fire, Rescue and Medical Services
By Gaby Mascoll, Con Fire PIO Intern
It’s a simple fact of modern life we’ve come to know and expect,
when disaster strikes -- be it a fire, a medical emergency, an auto
accident, water rescue, chemical spill, or something else that threatens
life and property -- we dial 911 and first responders -- firefighters, law
enforcement, or both -- show up to lend near-immediate assistance.
Depending on the type of incident reported, the emergency
response can vary considerably. For example, when it comes to fire
responses, a medical emergency might entail both a paramedic-staffed
fire engine and ambulance for a life-threatening situation, or simply an
ambulance for a less critical event. An unconfirmed fire alarm might
elicit a single fire engine response, but a confirmed house fire would
receive a minimum of four fire engines, a firetruck and associated
support personnel, or more -- what’s referred to as a first-alarm
assignment.
In West Contra Costa, residents of the communities of El Sobrante,
Pinole, Rodeo-Hercules, and San Pablo receive fire and emergency
medical services from each of their own city fire jurisdictions. This
includes Contra Costa County Fire Protection District’s (Con Fire)
Fire Station 69, in El Sobrante, and Fire Station 70, in San Pablo;
Pinole Fire Department’s Station 73; and Rodeo-Hercules Fire
Protection District’s Fire Station 75 in Rodeo and Fire Station 76 in
Hercules.
However, owing to the sizes of each of these organizations and
commonly accepted industry standards for modern firefighting
responses, not one of these communities has the resources alone to
provide a complete response to even a first-alarm house fire in any of
their communities!
That’s where the unique partnership called Battalion 7 comes in,
filling the resource gaps that would otherwise exist, allowing everyone
in these communities to rest assured they are protected should disaster
strike.
Battalion 7 consists of the crews, fire apparatus and equipment in
each of these communities along with a battalion chief, who, on any
given shift, coordinates and leads the efforts of all of the organizations’
firefighters. Working, training and responding together, as part of the
partnership, pooling their resources, they can effectively handle any
number of emergency incidents that alone, each individual district or
department would be hard pressed to do.
Aid from adjoining fire jurisdictions could, and often does,
supplement each of these jurisdiction’s firefighting resources, but with
Battalion 7, our communities are guaranteed a coordinated response
made up of firefighters and paramedics who know each other and
function seamlessly as one team because they plan, outfit and train to
do so every day of the year.
This unique firefighting model exists to assure residents that
firefighters and paramedics are on scene of any accident or service
needed in these West Contra Costa communities when and where
they are needed. Even if that city’s fire resources are on another
call, common dispatch procedures of the Contra Costa Regional
Fire Communications Center (911) will send another neighboring
Battalion 7 response that knows that community and its unique needs.
Each of the communities adopted the Battalion 7 concept in
September 2000 as a mutual aid agreement to improve responses at
any incident occurring in West County.
“2020 marks twenty years of this operation that began as a concept
and has provided residents with the best service possible with resources
available,” said Jim Parrott, retired Pinole Fire Chief and an original
Battalion 7 battalion chief. “The original agreement was built on
strong relationships, relationships that have endured through the
decades of this unique agreement to serve the needs of the agencies’
residents.”
One of Battalion 7’s many strengths is its ability to pool training
resources, affording first responders a wider variety of training than
each jurisdiction might otherwise be able to provide. This is especially
important because West County, with its numerous industrial facilities,
waterways, major transportation arteries and densely populated
wildland-urban interface areas where residents live in hilly, heavily
vegetated areas, offers a wide variety of potential emergencies.
Battalion 7’s training therefore mimics this near endless set of
emergency possibilities with each organization working together as
if facing these real-life scenarios. Training often includes responses to
industrial accidents; vehicle accidents with entrapments and fires; rope
rescues; and, of course, structure fires. Because of this training, the
member fire jurisdictions are able to anticipate needs of any incident,
coordinating seamlessly on any call and benefiting everyone in West
County.
“The sharing of information, training together, incident critiques,
and the general enthusiasm of the crews wanting to do a good job are
infectious,” said Charles Thomas, Con Fire’s Battalion 7 battalion chief.
“The impact of this partnership is evident in the services our residents
receive.”
And, thanks to the vision of firefighter leaders some 20 years ago,
and the continued commitments of today’s firefighters, the Battalion
7 partnership endures, assuring residents of the communities of El
Sobrante, Pinole, Rodeo-Hercules, and San Pablo the very best
fire and emergency medical services their individual organizations
collective efforts can provide.