News: CoCo County FPD Fancy new dud's

Hefty price tag on fire district's new jackets

Times must be flush over at the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District

Chief Keith Richter





Chief Keith Richter has ordered all 300-plus of his firefighters to be measured for new, double-breasted blazers at $350 a pop.

The new dress duds - costing an estimated $105,000 - will replace the old, short-waisted "Ike" jackets that county firefighters have been wearing at ceremonies for as long as anyone can remember.

Why the change?

"If you got a big gut and you try and zip up an Ike jacket, it doesn't look very presentable," Richter said.

Apparently, in the chief's eyes, a lot of the guys and gals in the department have spent too much time at the doughnut shop.

Richter, who made the switch himself to a double-breasted jacket last year, said the new blazers will bring the department in line with what firefighters in most neighboring districts wear.

Still, the style switch isn't exactly going over gangbusters with the troops - and not just because they're having to schedule a time to shuffle down to the Concord training center to get measured for the new coats.

Some say it's a waste of money, noting that the department - which stretches from Antioch to El Cerrito - handed out only modest raises this year.

"Most of the guys were surprised that taxpayers are footing the bill for this," said Capt. Art Jacobsen of Station 1 in Walnut Creek, who has happily been wearing his Ike jacket since he joined the fire district 28 years ago. After all, he said, "Nowadays, we have to get grant money just to get rescue equipment."

Plus, most firefighters can count on two hands the number of times over their careers that they've actually worn their ceremonial jackets.

Capt. Terry Stewart of Station 9 in Pacheco told us he was "kind of ambivalent" about going double-breasted.

"But if that's what the chief wants us to wear," he said, "then that's what we'll wear."

Source: SFGate