East Contra Costa County gets wildfire center to meet growing firefighting demand – NBC Bay Area

Contra Costa County gained a little more muscle Thursday in fighting wildfires in the eastern part of the county.

The county has opened a new wildfire center in Byron to train and support wildfire response teams. Fire crews and local leaders gathered to cut the ribbon on the Bixler Road property in Byron to the applause of onlookers.

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District explained that this site is the new home of the county's “Crew 12” Wildland Hand Crew. This site will also serve as a training center where teams can practice skills such as creating firewalls.

“The new facilities here have given us the opportunity to get better at what we do,” said Antonio Garibay, who works as a team leader for the county Hand Crew.

This center will be staffed by eighteen people per day (sixteen crew members and two captains) seven days a week, firefighters said.

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

Fire district officials said that in January, when they came to check on the facilities, they were “in a state of disrepair.” But by Thursday, the grounds had been cleaned and firefighters accompanied visitors on tours.

The center now houses dormitories, a gym, a tool repair place, a cafeteria, and more.

Contra Costa County District 3 Supervisor Diane Burgis said, “Just a few years ago, there were only nine people spread across three stations protecting 250 square miles. Today we have over nineteen people in our stations, and now we have this facility.

Burgis said 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 plants around their property to make it easier for fire crews to respond to emergencies.

Burgis hopes these efforts will show insurance companies, which have lost a growing number of California customers, that the region can be safely insured.

“If we have resources, if we manage vegetation, if we all take personal responsibility, we hope it makes a difference,” she said.

“But it’s still a big question mark,” Burgis added.

Fire crews told NBC Bay Area that the demand for wildfire response in eastern Contra Costa County is growing.

“The majority of our fires that we've seen this year have been in this area of ​​the county, so being stationed here, we've had much quicker response times and we've been able to get there a lot sooner,” said the Captain David. Woods, who works with the Contra Costa Fire Department.

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

“As communities here expand toward Wildland Urban Interface, cities continue to expand into our hills,” Woods noted.

This conservation team says they want to be prepared, both for an expected increase in nearby population and the growing risk of wildfires.