Fire Station No. 29 Relocation and Fire Training Center Development

The current fire house does not meet the operational needs of the fire department or the community in terms of types and quantity of equipment needed and staffing.

Fire House 29 is currently funded under Measure KK. the City's Infrastructure Bond passed by Oakland voters in 2016. After the site Master Plan is completed, the Fire House 29 will be the first phase of implementation with design and construction extending now through 2025. Other site amenities/future phases are currently unfunded.

There are a few options for the site, including rezoning the site to allow for an increase in density for housing as well as selling the site.

The new fire house will be approximately 15,000 square feet and will provide state of the art systems, house fire personnel, and will have a community resource center/conference room that will be available to the community. In comparison the existing fire house is approximately 3,900 sq ft and was originally built as a temporary facility and is much too small for a modern fire house.

The fire house will continue to serve the same service area.

There will be three bays at the fire house with one engine and at least one spare engine.

Each shift is scheduled to have four fire fighters, one fire investigator and can accommodate up to four additional firefighters when upstaffing occurs.

There will be onsite parking for the staff, so street parking will not be impacted.

The new fire house will have an area for semiprivate medical incidents.

The primary focus of the Community Room is to be used to enhance the administration's goal of getting out into the community to further our efforts at Community Risk Reduction. The intent is to use this space to offer Fire Department (FD) sponsored classes such as CERT, CPR, Firefighter preparedness, etc. The community room will be available to the community for other classes, meetings, discussion groups, youth events, etc. The space will NOT be used for fundraising, sales, or solicitation of money. Capacity and usage greater than 50 persons will require a special event permit from the Oakland Police Department (OPD).

The meeting room is 644 sf (23' x 28') and is designed for 20 persons at tables or 28 persons seated. The space is supported by accessible restrooms and a storage room.

The Community Room will be available on a first come, first served basis. Reservations must be made at least 30 days in advance through OFD Fire Administration (mail, fax, walk-in). 7 days a week from 0800 AM to 1000 PM. Public will be able to download a procedural guideline, application and use contract from FD website and turn into OFD Administration to reserve.

Classes including, but not limited to, CPR, FF Preparedness and CERT Training offered by the FD to the public. Additional space for community to conduct discussion groups, panels, lectures, youth events, and meetings.

OFD will collaborate with local community to determine specifics on Community Room. However, rules similar to these will be imposed:

• Community rooms are available for use between the hours of 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM.
• Community rooms may not be reserved for more than eight (8) hours in length.
• No possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages is allowed.
• Tobacco use is allowed outside, and in designated areas only.
• No sales, gambling or exchange of funds are permitted in the community rooms.
• The use of open flames, including candles is prohibited in all community rooms.
• The user agrees to pay for any damage to the facility and/or its belongings within fifteen (15) days.
• Pets are not allowed, with the exception of service or emotional support animals.
• We reserve the right to limit activities that might interfere with normal Fire Station operations.
• Disc jockeys and/or loud or disruptive music is not allowed. Activities which may include singing of any other type of low-volume music are only permitted.
• As the community room is the property of the City of Oakland, to avoid the appearance of any suggestion of improper partisanship, endorsement, or partiality in the use of the premises, political activities other than the use of room as a duly sanctioned election polling place in a municipal, county, state or federal election are prohibited.

Improper political activities shall include, but not limited to:

• Speeches, rallies or other gatherings in connection with the promotion of a candidate for any public office, or in connection with a legislative or election issue.
• Political party or committee or other organizational meetings of any kind.
• Activities of any kind in connection with any petition for the calling of an election or for presentation to a governing body or official.
• Political fundraising activities.
• Any meetings or other activities intended to promote the candidacy of a person for any public office or for the promotion of any legislative or election issue.
• Any activities intended to register persons to vote or increase voter turnout..

As described in KK, this space is to be used for public safety enhancements, In this case, community education with the priority being given to Community Risk reduction efforts.

Not at this site. Measure KK funding is allocated elsewhere to improve recreation and community spaces such as preschool/ childcare.

There are Community Rooms at Stations 24, 18 and 8. These are used intermittently by the public but not utilized as much as we would like due to lack of procedure for reserving them. The current Fire Administration would like to rework the reservation and use system for OFD Community rooms to allow more public use.

The Departments existing training center is obsolete and is currently operated with condemned facilities that no longer support the training requirements of the Oakland Fire Department.

The site at 905 66th Avenue is an ideal location for not only the training center but also allows Fire House No. 29 to be replaced in the center of its response district. The site is correctly zoned for both the Fire House and the Training Center. The 6 ½ acre area is an ideal size and an ideal location to support the Departments multiple programs to educate, develop and foster good-will in the community. The site is easy to access via BART and AC Transit.

The City of Oakland hosts the federally funded FEMA Task Force 4 which provides Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) services to major disasters all over the country. The Department is paying $30,000 in monthly rent and to have this function as a City owned facility would aid the department financially. Training is a big part of the Task Force daily duties and being co-located at the training center brings assets to each group that can be shared.

In addition, the Departments Support Services Division is located at a Public Works warehouse. This division provides supplies, equipment and maintenance to all stations and the training center. Relocating the Support Service Division to this site and co-locating with USAR and the Training Division provides economies of scale by the sharing of land and facilities. It allows each Division to function more efficiently.

Typical center hours are 8am to 5pm, however on occasions (weekly) there will be off hour (evening/night/weekend) training operations. In addition, when the Task Force is activated, the facility will operate 24 hours a day until deployed.

Class A live fires are anticipated 2 times per training academy (two to three times per calendar year). A typical Class A burn will last less than 15 minutes and will involve real fire and smoke. Class B fires are anticipated # times per training academy and use liquid propane and artificial smoke generators to simulate a real fire. A typical Class B burn will last less than 5 minutes.

Typical fire training activities do not include the use of sirens. Typical training ground operations involve the use of light machinery and tools; similar to a quiet construction site.

Typical Class A fires are created using pallets and straw or compressed fibrous wood shavings. Typical Class B fires are created using a liquid propane system similar to a large gas grill.

Typically, there is no public notification.

A traffic study will be conducted after Fire House 29 is constructed in preparation of Master Site development.

The MACRO facility is not projected at this site. The current proposal is to include with the Station 4 plans.

The MACRO facility is currently collocated with Training; however, with the consolidation of USAR and Community room at Station 29 it is not reasonable to also include MACRO at this site unless the size of the project increases.

Part of the process is to determine the uses allowed by the zoning regulations for the area. Once the zoning and the needs of the community have been determined Oakland Fire Department will incorporate those considerations to determine the uses. The type of facility and use should align with what can be supported by the City of Oakland or by a Community Partner for maximum benefit.

We have held three in person Community Meetings and three Zoom Community Meetings. See below under Documents for the presentations from each meeting. The project team has also held meetings with the Black Cultural Zone; City Council Districts 6 and 7; Cypress Mandela Training Center; AC Transit, BART and Union Pacific Railroad; Acts Full Gospel Church; Pastors of Oakland; Lions Creek Crossing Senior Residence; Neighborhood Council Beats 30X, 30Y and 26 XY; as well as the City of Oakland Planning department to obtain input about the Fire House, Training Center and the Shared OFD/Community Facility. Project staff have also gathered community input and shared information by walking door to door in East Oakland and attending a variety of community events to table, including events hosted by the Oakland Housing Authority, Akoma Market, Moving for Peace, and Aspire Schools.