Alhambra Valley Volunteer Firefighters Subject Of A Meeting Saturday

To extinguish concerns of some residents in the Alhambra Valley town of Briones that its volunteer fire station is going up in smoke, Consolidated Fire Chief Daryl Louder will attend a meeting tomorrow and explain his plans for the future of the station.

Those plans include more training for the ten volunteer firefighters, who are first responders for over 100 square miles of largely open grassland.

Hetty Dutra, who owns the horse ranch Hossmoor on Bear Creek Road, said this week that she was concerned Con Fire is preparing the close the station.

“I think there’s a vested interest in keeping the department professional,” she said. “But I personally doubt that that’s better.”

She said that volunteer firefighters know the area well, and in a rural environment like Briones, that’s important.

“There are a lot of dirt driveways out here, and if you don’t know who lives where, it’s easy to get lost,” Dutra said.

“The underlying issue is how can be best get the medical and fire protection we need in and around the Briones area,” said attorney Bill Foley, who will chair Saturday’s meeting.

Station 19 was the focus of controversy in 2008, when it was scheduled to close. Residents rallied, and Con Fire officials vowed to keep it open, and provide the volunteers with more rigorous training, which is now required by state law of all firefighters.

But that training never happened.

Louder said this week that budgetary constraints prevented the kind of training the department originally envisioned.

“Since then, we have not supported that effort to the level we could have, and should have,” Louder said Thursday.  “We have committed to trying to devote more time to training those personnel who want to help the community.”

To that end, Louder said the district will provide training to volunteers that focuses on medical response and exterior firefighting. The more intense training and equipment used in interior firefighting will not be provided, he said, based on the kinds of calls Station 19 receives.

Federal Glover, the county supervisor who will represent the area when the new supervisorial lines are finally approved next month, has also promised to attend the meeting tomorrow, which will take place at 3:30 p.m. at Hossmoor.