Atwater: CAL FIRE takes a beating keeps on ticking

Atwater City Council lambastes Cal Fire

A Cal Fire representative received a lashing from several Atwater City Council members Monday night after presenting a review of Cal Fire's nine months as the city's fire service.

The council's litany of criticism included Cal Fire's slow weed abatement work, its less than transparent or fair process for hiring weed cutting contractors and the fact that the contractor chosen happened to be owned by the father of a Cal Fire employee.

"All this stuff adds up," said council member Gary Frago at one point during the meeting.

While the council voted unanimously to accept Cal Fire's review, it tacked on several caveats, which may act as a leash -- a leash in the form of another review of Cal Fire in September -- that the council can pull on when it wants Cal Fire to roll over in the future.

The night's lashing of Cal Fire was part of a pattern of questioning and critiquing of the agency's performance -- from its response times to its dispatch system -- spearheaded by Frago, a former Atwater firefighter.

Cal Fire Unit Chief Dale Hutchison's presentation before the council went over every aspect of the service provided to Atwater. He emphasized specifically what the city gained: manpower, training opportunities and a more flexible staff with Cal Fire, among other things.

His comments were followed by a three-pronged assault from the council, which was opened up by council member Jeff Rivero.

"The citizens of Atwater were let down," said Jeff Rivero about the tardiness of weed abatement, which had not been completed by the Fourth of July, as usual.

Council member Joe Rivero then voiced concerns echoed by Frago and Jeff Rivero when he questioned Hutchinson over why only one contractor had been used to do the abatement when there were almost 10 to choose from.

"People, for the most part, I feel, were being shafted," he said about the contractors not been called for the weed abatement work.

Hutchinson said that it was a problem that would be addressed. But when he said that Cal Fire was new to the weed abatement issue in Atwater, Frago cut in. "The person running it (Cal Fire's Atwater Battalion Chief Ed Banks) has been here over 25 years," said Frago.

But that was not the end of the weed abatement issue.

Jeff Rivero finally asked if it was true that the owner of the company who did the weed abatement was related to a Cal Fire employee.

Hutchison said that was true.

Aside from weed abatement, Frago had a list of personal concerns which was long and varied. "I have several items," he began.

While Frago said he was pleased with Cal Fire's performance as far as fires and emergencies, on several matters it seemed that issues were only addressed after he let Cal Fire know about them.

For instance, only after he notified Cal Fire that they were not allowed to put their decals on Atwater's vehicles, did it stop, he asked? After he found out they had used Atwater's vehicles for training purposes, it stopped.

But Cal Fire was not responsive to all his suggestions, he said. He complained that when he suggested an abandoned house as a possible training location, no one called him back about it.