The earthquake resistance of Fire Station 51 and dangerous diesel exhaust are among the top issues for the Lompoc Fire Department, which presented its budgetary needs alongside other city departments at a recent special meeting.
Lompoc City Council reviewed and discussed the city’s 2021-23 biennial budget during the May 20 meeting. City Manager Jim Throop said it was balanced without any staff reductions, furlows, or operational cuts for the first time in more than a decade.
“Looking out over the next few years, it does appear the city is finally turning a proverbial corner, and is now on track to continue to … a financially secure future,” Throop said.
Interim Fire Chief Brian Federmann was the first to present departmental needs to the council, and he brought up long-standing concerns about the health and safety of his staff that he hopes the new budget can address.
Federmann said that the most critical need, which the department hopes to get funded through CARES Act dollars, is a diesel extraction system. This technology ensures that when a fire vehicle is backing into the station, the diesel particulates expelled from the truck are “sucked up into the filtration system and then released into the air, and not into the living quarters of the station,” Federmann explained.
These systems are standard in fire stations, he said, and Lompoc is the only county fire department that does not have one. It’s a health hazard that the department is already suffering the consequences from.
“One of our personnel was diagnosed with colon cancer, and it was a work-related illness due to carcinogens from diesel exhaust,” Federmann said. “So we are very hopeful that with this funding, we will be able to see these arrive to the station quickly, to protect our personnel.”
Federmann told the Sun that cancer is a leading cause of death in the fire service industry due to carcinogens from fire as well as from diesel exhaust.
The department is also looking to expand its vehicle fleet, particularly an aerial ladder truck.
“As you saw last month, our 29-year-old ladder truck was sent to the salvage yard,” Federmann said at the meeting. “It was completely unsafe and unrepairable. We are also hopeful to get another type 1 engine to make up for some of the deficiencies in that area.”
Federmann said that having an insufficient fleet compromises the department’s ability to respond not only locally, but also to provide mutual assistance throughout the state of California.
Another key safety concern is the structural integrity of Fire Station 51. The department is asking for funding to get a structural evaluation of the building.
Councilmember Jeremy Ball asked Chief Federmann to speak candidly about the condition of the building.
“If we did happen to suffer a horrific California earthquake, how confident are you that that building doesn’t come down?” Ball asked.
Federmann responded with urgency in his voice: “It needs to be assessed.”
He told the Sun that the building had a preliminary evaluation in 2014, which first revealed structural integrity issues, and the department has been trying to secure city and grant funding ever since to address it. If funded this year through the city budget, Federmann said the intent is “to bring in a full team to open the walls and look at the main structural members.”
Lastly, the department is looking to add two new positions: a fire inspector and an office staff assistant.
“While we have many needs—we could definitely use more firefighters—I think our most critical component is trying to meet the needs of the economic growth in our community,” Federmann said. “We want to make sure that we do that in a safe and effective manner and be efficient in that process.”
Part of the fire department’s role is ensuring business adherence to the California building code and fire code through inspections.
“From an economic standpoint, we think of vitality, and we don’t want the industry or any business to be compromised in their success because of a hazard,” Federmann said. “The more prevention side that we’re able to put into, and make sure those significant events don’t happen, we would like to do that.”
With just one fire marshal overseeing this workload, the addition of a fire inspector position is critical, he said. As the city grows economically, and particularly with the expansion of the cannabis industry, that role will only become more impacted, Federmann explained.
“When I see an opportunity to add an inspector, I see that as a help to the fire marshal for the business side, to make sure that we’re moving with plan checks and reviews and inspections,” Federmann said, “but also to get out to our current businesses and make sure that they are being as safe as possible, and help educate them where needed.”
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 3, 2021.