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Showing posts with label Alameda County Fire Department. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alameda County Fire Department. Show all posts

Saturday, December 26, 2020

Emeryville: Where a Door is Not a Door


Door  \ dȯr \   noun

1: A hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress into and egress from an enclosure.

Emeryville Door \ ˈem-rē vil  dȯr \  noun

1: A barrier resembling a door that blocks ingress into and egress from an enclosure.


News Analysis
There’s a corporate entity in Emeryville more powerful than the City of Emeryville and the Alameda County Fire Department combined.  This is a nation-wide corporation with a local Emeryville profit center address that has the power to redefine English words in order to retroactively make signed contracts work to their benefit.  They even have the power to unilaterally re-write the fire code to make it align with their desires to increase profits (for more than 72 fiscal quarters so far).  What corporation is this?  It's CVS Pharmacy, America's ubiquitous and seemingly innocuous strip mall chain fixture.  In the world of corporate malfeasance, CVS ranks with the best of them; from illegally peddling oxycontin, to bribery of elected officials, to wholesale customer medical record HIPAA violations, CVS is a classic corporate bad actor.  
Here at their Emeryville unit, the malfeasance is more pedestrian, so to speak.  Here, it’s all about their fire exit doors.  CVS doesn’t like the doors, so they’re not allowing it, regardless of their contractual agreement with the City of Emeryville’s Planning Department or the dictates of the California Fire Code and its enforcers at the Alameda County Fire Department.  Full stop.
Permanently Locked Fire Exit Doors
On one side, a sign says "Emergency Exit"
and the other side says "Bitch".
One was put up by the Alameda County Fire Department,
the other possibly by a graffiti artist.  Or maybe
both signs were placed by the Fire Department.  



Back in 2002, when the building at 4349 San Pablo Avenue was built, the previous owner, the now defunct Longs Drugs (subsumed by CVS in 2008), agreed to place doors on the sidewalk to assuage an Emeryville General Plan dictate that requires retail businesses on that street to follow an urban design guideline meant to activate the pedestrian sidewalks.  But Longs and the new masters, CVS, prefer a suburban strip mall model for their stores with a parking lot out front and doors there.  That model ran headlong into the General Plan with its urban model.  So the pharmacy simply signed the agreement and immediately proceeded to close off the doors, rendering them inoperable.  Customers use the parking lot doors, making the Emeryville unit in the style of their preferred strip mall suburban model despite initial objections from Emeryville.  

Complaints against the CVS doors over the years have gotten nowhere because the corporate giant simply ignores pleas from the City of Emeryville and orders from the Alameda County Fire Department.  Charlie Bryant, the Planning Director of the City of Emeryville has since given up asking CVS to honor their agreement and he now fully takes the position that the doors need not be operational for the corporation to be in compliance.  Mr Bryant has not seen fit to answer to the definition of the common English word “door” that is explicit in its insistence that a person be able to pass through one for it to qualify.  Resemblance to a door is good enough.
  
Over at the Alameda County Fire Department, they’re not so blatant in siding with CVS, rather they simply aren’t enforcing the ongoing fire code violation.  Citizen complaint driven rather than fire concern driven,  ACFD keeps issuing orders to keep the doors open but CVS keeps ignoring the orders.  Interestingly, a while back, the ACFD put up an “Emergency Exit” sign on the outside to keep homeless people from blocking the doors.  But inside, the exit is still blocked by CVS with merchandise and a permanently closed heavy steel roll down door.

These are just a couple of doors.  Why is our government so flummoxed by this?  Why can’t this easy problem just be taken care of?  Is our government really this hapless?  These doors, meant to enliven the San Pablo Avenue sidewalk and to keep people safe in the event of a fire, can be seen as a metaphor for the general state of societal dysfunction over the last couple of decades where governance over the public commons has increasingly played deference to private corporations that are untouchable in their monarchal power.  This corporation doesn’t want these doors so they’re not going to open them.  Eighteen years in, that’s obviously the end of the discussion.  Still, we like to imagine a bygone time when the Alameda County Fire Department worked to keep the public safe from fire and when the City of Emeryville, likewise burdened with the people’s business, were unconcerned with a private corporation’s pecuniary interests regardless how many billions in assets it might have.

The latest order from the Alameda County Fire Department.
Every so often the Emeryville CVS Pharmacy gets one of these orders. 
The corporation promptly puts them in 'File 13' and goes about its business.
Maybe the Fire Department thinks the scary red ink is helping.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

City of Emeryville Makes Police Station Fire Trap Legal by Proclamation

Building Official Promoted to Fire Official Proclaims Formerly Illegal Fire Hazard OK

City Manager Says it's "Less Than Ideal"

Public Safety Still at Risk at Police Station

Unidentified employees at the Emeryville Police Department, operating without authority and in secret, purposely altered their building's approved design by adding locks to a set of public fire escape doors and in so doing permanently blocked legal egress, putting public safety at risk over the last six years.  Such is the City's finding according to James Holgersson, Emeryville's City Manager as presented at Tuesday's City Council meeting.  With the untoward and eyebrow raising official version of the facts, the City finally provided answers to some basic questions in the slow rolling police station scandal.
Left unanswered at the City's revelatory mea culpa meeting however is why in 2012, after the building received final signed off approval from the Building Department and the Fire Marshall following a major remodel, the police felt it necessary to place locks on the doors, taking away the only emergency escape from the second floor public lobby.  Regardless, the City Council failed to act to return the public fire egress on Tuesday, citing a legal technicality freeing them from forcing the police to unlock the doors.

For their part, the police on Tuesday cited unspecified "changes in Police Department security policy functions" in 2012 as the reason for their unilateral locking of the fire doors.  The City Council notably,  didn't bother to ask what the "changes" were that necessitated such a drastic move by the Police Department.
The City Manager reported inexplicably the police might have been "unaware" the locking of the public fire doors would put public safety at risk and that regardless, the Building Department is "rarely notified when such changes are made" (even though by law it is required to).

For the record, it is illegal in Emeryville and other cities to perform unauthorized work on buildings, including work that impacts a fire escape path of egress without permission from the Building Department.  Mr Holgersson is alleging the work performed by the police was not authorized.  Police personnel are not given powers to interpret the fire code on their own and any unilateral claim made by them that they would escort people out of a public lobby in the event of a fire is not recognized by law.  Only a city's fire official could render such a judgment.  Such a judgement for Emeryville's police station didn't exist for the first six years of this scandal.

The findings presented to the City Council included the admission that the police operated without permission from the Building Official or the Fire Marshall and that the locked doors violated the California Fire Code and left the public with no legal fire escape for six years.  The City Manager revealed that a correction to the violation only occurred starting sometime after July 1st of this year when the City Council elevated the chief building official, Victor Gonzales to include the title of Emeryville Fire Official.  Mr Gonzales, with his new title subsequently ruled the locked doors OK because he says, the Police Department has given their promise to escort the public to safety in the event of a fire.  The State grants the Fire Official of any municipality authorization to so ignore the Fire Code it was noted.

"Less Than Ideal"
The City Manager, James Holgersson told the City Council that although the locked fire escape doors at the police station are now legal by proclamation from Mr Gonzales (as of July 1st), public fire safety there is still not good; a condition he called "less than ideal".  The Alameda Fire Department agreed with the City Manager; an Emeryville representative calling the condition "less safe" than the California Fire Code's provision that the public be able to vacate a building on its own in case of fire.

The City Manager, after noting the less than ideal public fire safety at the police station recommended the City Council approve one of three solutions that would comport with the Fire Code. Mr Holgersson's recommendations were not popular with the Council who said NO to all three citing Mr Gonzales's new ruling that the law doesn't mandate such a public fire escape.
The three fire escape choices offered to the City Council Tuesday included a new exterior stairs added to the building, moving of the public lobby downstairs and the construction of a new ground level public lobby addition to the building.  Of the choices offered to the Council, inexplicably left out was the cheapest and easiest; the simple return to the previous condition; that being taking the locks off the fire doors.

New 'In House' Fire Official
On June 21st, before Victor Gonzales was elevated to Emeryville Fire Code Official (on July 1st), when he was serving only as the chief Building Official, Mr Gonzales told the Tattler, regarding the lack of a fire escape,"Mistakes were made and we're working on a fix."  The City of Emeryville is now maintaining the "fix" is to make Mr Gonzales the Fire Code Official and then deem what was formerly illegal, now legal by proclamation by this in house fire official.  Notably, an independent fire official, as Emeryville had prior to July 1st, might have ruled in favor of the California Fire Code version of a fire escape, causing the City embarrassment and costing money.  In that case, Mr Gonzales himself would have been on the hot seat as chief Building Official owing to his failure to act to protect the public over the six years, warned as he was about the situation.

The City Council failed to act on Tuesday and did not indicate a plan to cure or correct the "less than ideal" public safety situation at the Emeryville Police Department building regardless of the still lingering questions the public has a right to know the answers to.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

City Hall Doubles Down on Fire Hazard at Police Station


City Explores New Addition at Police Station to Solve Fire Escape Problem

Price May Climb to $1 Million or More
on Work Deemed Unnecessary

Staff Doubles Down on Lack of Accountability 

Police Station Runs Afoul of California Fire Code

Complaint Opens Investigation


An internal City Hall memo, recently intercepted by the Tattler brings new revelations about how the City's police station building came to be in violation of the California Fire Code and left the public vulnerable in the fast moving Emeryville police station fire escape scandal: illegal and non-permitted work was performed, adding locked doors blocking off escape. The addition of the locked doors was done sometime after the 2012 major remodel of the building the memo states, by unknown people, presumably police personnel.   Equally intriguing and inexplicable is the assertion made by the memo's author, City Manger James Holgersson, that by placing locked doors blocking egress for the second floor public lobby, the City is not in violation of the Fire Code but he is advising that the City Council spend money to add a legal fire escape nonetheless.
Mr Holgersson is suggesting that the City of Emeryville go above and beyond the legal minimum to the tune of a million dollars or more and provide a fire escape that's not necessary (according to his reading of the California Fire Code).

In anticipation of Tuesday's City Council agendized discussion on the lack of a fire escape for the public lobby at the Powell Street station, the City Manager released the memo to the Council informing them the City is not bound by regulations spelled out in the California Fire Code requiring public buildings to provide emergency legal egress because he says the police have promised to escort citizens out of the building in the event of a fire.  However, the California Fire Code, a state mandated suite of regulations that govern egress for both public and private buildings, does not provide the police escort idea as an acceptable permanent replacement for the delineated 'paths of egress' codes spelled out in Chapter 10 of the voluminous document.

Interim City Manager James Holgersson
Emeryville should spend up to a million dollars
on a fire escape at the police station even though
it's not legally needed he says.
The Alameda County Fire Department has opened an investigation into the matter as a result of a Tattler complaint.
 

Mr Holgersson, acknowledges in the July 11th memo that the police escort idea, legal in his mind, is nonetheless sub par and the City is presented with "the opportunity to reassess and how to improve the public access and egress in the building."  As such, the Council is being directed to consider one of three what he asserts are voluntary improvements to help the public with emergency egress.  The three choices consist of building a new set of exterior stairs out the front of the building (as the Tattler reported on June 21st), moving the public lobby downstairs or building a new addition to the police station on the ground level and put the public lobby there.  A local building contractor gave a cost estimate for the solutions ranging from as much as $300,000 for the stairs, $750,000 to move the public lobby downstairs to as much as $1 million or more for a new addition.

Chapter 10 of the California Fire Code, BE 1003.6 Means of Egress Continuity clearly states "Paths of egress shall not be interrupted by a building element." Section 1031, Maintenance of the Means of Egress as well as BE 1025.2.6, Doors within the Exit Path all address the illegal condition at the police station.

The memo claims "changes in police security policy functions" after the completion of the 2012 $3.7million police station remodel brought the locked set of doors blocking the public fire escape, work performed without a building permit by unknown person(s).
Any work done without the benefit of a permit, especially work that would constrain a public fire escape is a violation of the California Fire Code as well as a violation of the Emeryville Building Department and Public Works because it involves a public building.

More Redactions
In related news, a Tattler Public Records Request for documents related to the police station fire escape was answered by City Hall on Monday, several days after what the law allows.  The document dump, some 138 emails in all, mostly detail discussions about how and when internal meetings about the issue should take place.  The City, adding to the already redacted information presented to the Tattler, is withholding an unknown number of documents that speak substantively to the issue, citing the following:

The City asserts that certain other documents are exempt from disclosure under Government Code, § 6254(a) as they are preliminary drafts, notes, or interagency or intra-agency memoranda that are not retained by the public agency in the ordinary course of business, and because the public interest in withholding those records clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

The Tattler has run a number of stories on the fire hazard at the police station, starting in 2016 but has hit a wall of redacted information on this issue.  City Councilman Scott Donahue said he intends that the City make a legal fire escape that comports with the California Fire Code and also that accountability will follow, regardless of any assertions to the contrary from the staff, "We will find out what went wrong" he said.

The July 11th memo may be read HERE

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

EPD Exempt From Fire Safety Regulations

Post Ghost Ship Fire:
'Do As We Say, Not As We Do'

Fire Trap at Emeryville Police Department


After the deaths of 36 people in Oakland’s Ghost Ship Fire on December 2nd, East Bay municipalities, looking to avoid appearing cavalier about public safety in the face of intense and building public scrutiny, have been on a tear seeking to root out fire hazards.  In Oakland and Berkeley they've already started finding violations in makeshift warehouse live/work housing settlements.  In Emeryville, they only need to look in the mirror. 
Behold the newly remodeled Emeryville Police Department 2nd floor public lobby: fine so long as there’s not a fire…but if there is, you’re gunna die.  That’s because the only way out besides the elevator is through a set of locked doors that lead to a stairway to the outside and safety; a clear cut major fire code violation.  And a major public safety hazard.

The Alameda County Fire Department as well as the city manager of the City of Emeryville, the chief of police and the chief building inspector have all known about this problem for years as a result of numerous public complaints.  But they've been kicking this embarrassing public safety violation can down the road all that time leaving the fire safety issue still unresolved.  After December 2nd, there will be perhaps a new found sense of urgency. 

Death Trap
The police department's public lobby.
Doors on the left open up to stairs that lead outside.
But during a fire (and all other times as well),
they're locked.
The public officials were all alerted to the condition after the City undertook a major $2.7 million taxpayer funded remodel, finished in 2012.  The construction work which took two years to complete was done ostensibly to improve public safety but the public was safer before when the building's escape stairs weren’t located behind set of permanently locked doors says a fire department employee. The source within the Alameda County Fire Department who wished to remain anonymous agrees the newly remodeled lobby at the police department is a public fire hazard that should be addressed but doesn’t hold much hope for a fix. 

While the City of Emeryville starts its search for fire code violations amid artist's home/studios and local businesses, the hypocrisy is not lost on the fire department employee,  "All businesses in Emeryville are required to have annual fire inspections, however government buildings are not under the same scrutiny. It's a loophole that allows violations to slip through the cracks”, the anonymous source told the Tattler.

It was conjectured that the reason the doors at the police station became permanently locked as part of the remodel, was to save police personnel the trouble of having to fumble for keys as they traverse through two doors that would have been constructed on either side of the former public stairway if public safety had been foremost in the City's mind during the remodel planning stage.


Notified that the Tattler would make this public safety hazard public and perhaps not sensing any irony, officials at the Emeryville Police Department refused to unlock the door for photo documentation of the formerly public stairs for this story.  They also refused comment for this story as did City Hall officials and Alameda County Fire Department officials, save the one employee who wished anonymity.



Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Maz Project Burns: "Biggest Fire in Decades"

At 2:45 AM today Alameda County Fire Department received the call; the Maz housing project at 39th Street and San Pablo Avenue was in flames.  The fire, fueled by the bare wood studs of the 6 story project still under construction, quickly turned into a six alarm conflagration that was still burning at 9:00 this morning.  One unnamed firefighter called it the biggest fire in decades for Emeryville.  No injuries have been reported at what is being designated as a crime scene.




Monday, February 13, 2012

Letters To The Tattler: Kevin Johnson & John Cooper

Emeryville Considers Folding The Fire Dept

Emeryville's budget nightmare continues to force cost cutting at City Hall and they are now considering folding Emeryville's independent fire department and contracting out services with the Alameda County Fire Department to help with costs.  This is an idea previously considered several times over the last twenty or so years by the city council but it's always been rejected.  Now the council seems to be serious since negotiations with the County have revealed Emeryville could save up to a million dollars per year and services for residents and fire fighting capacity would actually improve.  Significantly, the Fire Fighters Union is accepting of the current plan.  


Fire Chief Kevin Johnson addresses resident's concerns with the following letter to the Tattler:
       .              .              .              . 
  

"The Alameda County proposal clearly indicates that both the Hollis and Powell Street fire stations will be staffed-each with an engine company and each with paramedic/advanced life support personnel and equipment.  The service level would continue to be specified and directed by the City.  Alameda County Fire essentially will work for the City of Emeryville under contract and will provide the level of service that is specified by the City.  The proposal contains no reduction in the fire stations that will be staffed and response times will not suffer.  Part of the service involves making regular measurements of service levels and response times and reporting those findings to the City.  If there were any departures from specified service levels, Alameda County would have to make the appropriate adjustments to meet their contract requirements. 

Under the plan, current Emeryville firefighters will remain in the City during the transition and integration into Alameda County .  This transition phase is explained as “incremental” over one to two years.  During that period, Emeryville firefighters learn about Alameda County polices and operating procedures.  They begin to train with Alameda County firefighters and orient themselves with other areas of the County (and Alameda County personnel orient to Emeryville).  In time and after full integration, some Emeryville firefighters may choose to bid into assignments in other areas of the County.  The important point is that this process is planned whereby firefighters receive appropriate orientation and training before movements occur.

Additionally, the proposal includes a subcontract with the City of Oakland Fire Department to provide a planned and coordinated emergency response to augment Emeryville fire units in the event of a larger incident (such as a structure fire).  Currently, Emeryville receives assistance from Oakland but it is not particularly planned or coordinated and it is not through a written agreement.  Thus, the Alameda County proposal provides an enhancement to emergency response.  In any case, service levels will certainly not diminish.    

The concept of the [fire fighting] boat is to place that resource in Emeryville to handle water-based rescues should that type of incident occur.  While rare, from time to time there have been water-based incidents that have occurred in Emeryville.  As we all saw in the tragic case of the drowning at the shore in the City of Alameda , it is much better to plan for, train, and equip emergency personnel to handle foreseeable emergencies that may arise in their community.  Sometimes emergency incident planning dictates use of mutual aid resources from other communities (which Emeryville would still use in the event of a significant water-based emergency) and sometimes it is prudent to provide equipment and training in the community.  The placement of a small boat in the City represents a service level enhancement that would make Emeryville more versatile in terms of its response capability." 

.            .          .           .

Captain John Cooper, Union representative of the Emeryville Firefighters Local 55 also weighs in on the negotiations; in a companion letter to the Tattler, Mr Cooper notes that the rank and file voted for the new plan to contract out with the County in a 21-3 vote:


..."Regarding the three individuals who voted against contracting with Alameda County- The vote was done by secret ballot and those individuals were not specifically identified, however, concerns that were expressed all related to personal pay and benefit issues and not the quality of the service being offered. All members of the Fire Department agreed that the Alameda County Fire Department will be able to provide a much higher level of service than the current stand alone Emeryville model can at a significant cost savings to the City. 

Both of the current Fire Stations will remain open and all currently employed Emeryville personnel will remain employed. If you were to have a structure fire today, you would get 2 Engines and a 1 person Truck with 7 Emeryville Firefighters responding to your house without the use of mutual aid from neighboring Cities. When the Alameda County Fire Department starts providing service in July, you will get 3 Engines, a fully staffed Truck and a Battalion Chief with 16 firefighters arriving on scene without the need for calling for mutual aid. Response times to emergencies will not be affected and the quality of service and medical care you’ve come to expect will remain the same. 

The fire boat is a nice addition as we have responded to numerous water emergencies over the years and always had to rely on the Coast guard for assistance. This will allow us to respond faster with paramedic level care and water rescue capabilities to those people who are on a boat or in the water. 


I have been employed with the Emeryville Fire Department for 25 years and I can say that this solution will provide a higher level of service to the community than you are currently receiving which is saying a lot."