A message to residents from Fire Chief Lance Maples
The men and women of the El Cerrito Fire Department and Kensington Fire Protection District work hard everyday to reduce the impact of fire related losses in our community. Please help us by clearing brush from your home, ensuring you have a working smoke alarm in each bedroom in your home, and being safe around open flames. For more information about vegetation management and fire prevention, see Fire Prevention Tips For Residents
Overview of Calls for Service 2006-2009
The El Cerrito Fire Department responds to a wide variety of calls for service including controlling and extinguishing fires, intervention in medical emergencies which threaten life and health, and protection of life, the environment, and property from the effects of storm, flood, earthquake, disaster, hazardous chemical releases and other emergency events.
Calls for service are categorized as follows:
Fire - Structure Fires, Vehicle Fires, Wildland Fires, Explosions
Service Calls - Person in Distress, Water Problems, Severe Weather
Good Intent - Cancelled Calls, Wrong Location, No Hazards Found
False Calls - False Alarms, System Malfunctions, Malicious False Alarms
The Fire Department responds to approximately 3,000 calls for service a year; Fire loss over this four year period averages $499,828 per year. Fire loss averages remains very low compared to cities with similar demographics. The following is a list of total responses and loss for the past four years:
Year
Responses
Dollar Loss
2009
2,823
$367,250
2008
2,881
$181,425
2007
2,926
$559,370
2006
2,929
$891,270
Note: A spike in fire loss in 2006 is from a large fire loss to an EBMUD pumping trailer, caused by human error during maintenance.
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