File photo

The city of Alameda initiated fire department "brownouts" on Jan. 26. This action took from service either an ambulance at Fire Station 4 on Mecartney Road or a ladder truck at Fire Station 2 on Pacific Avenue.

"Save Alameda Fire Houses" the firefighters' union Web site, has statistics available up to and including Feb. 23. The union says that brownouts have occurred on 25 of the 28 days that the policy has been in effect. The site also says that these brownouts have caused 45 delayed responses.

It takes 27 firefighters to fully staff each shift at Alameda's five fire stations. When one or two firefighters don't report for duty, the city has been "browning out" Fire Station 4's ambulance, which AFD says, "protects the Bay Farm Island area of Alameda." The union points out that the brownout decreases the level of service to the citizens of Bay Farm by 40 percent.

Whenever three firefighters are absent from their appointed shift and the staffing level drops to 24, the city has been browning out the ladder truck at Fire Station 2. According to AFD, this station "protects the West End of the Island, including: Ballena Bay, Robert Crown Memorial State Beach, the Barnhill and Pacific Marinas, Marina Village, and the Webster and Posey tubes."

The city firefighters have been working without a contract for two years. Their union, International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 689, has been negotiating with the city to no avail.

The union has taken another tack and proposed a ballot initiative that would put an end to the brownouts. If the initiative reaches the ballot, and voters give their approval, the city would have no choice but to staff its firehouses with a minimum of 27 firefighters on each shift regardless of the economic climate.

The union must work with its nemesis, the city itself, to get this accomplished, however. Before the firefighters can begin to collect signatures, they need put their measure on the ballot. To accomplish this, City Attorney Terry Highsmith must write the measure's title and summary.

Election code requires that Highsmith write impartially. But the firefighters have taken issue with how she has worded the documents. "They sent us this title and summary that's completely prejudicial, that's argumentative," union president Domenick Weaver told the Islander's Michele Ellison. He said the language will make it hard for him to get the signatures he needs to qualify his measure for the ballot and that he thinks the language has little to do with what the measure actually says.

Courtesy Alameda Fire Department

Alameda firefighters knock down a fire from the roof of a home.

Highsmith disagrees. She told Ellison that the language she's provided is impartial and factual. "There is nothing argumentative about giving the community all the material information that they are entitled to when they are being asked to make a decision — this is consistent with this city council's policy of transparency of government," she said. The measure remains untitled at present.

The union hopes to gather enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot in November. If the measure passes the way Highsmith has written it, at least five engine companies would protect the city at all times.

Regardless of budget considerations, each company would have at least one fire engine and at least three firefighters. The measure would provide that at least one of the firefighters be an officer and one be a paramedic.

In addition, least two fire truck companies would have one fire truck and three firefighters; one of the firefighters must be an officer. The measure would require three paramedic ambulances staffed with two firefighters, one of whom must be a paramedic.

The measure would also require the city to provide funding for a supervisory chief officer to be on duty daily. This officer must be a uniformed firefighter on a 24-hour shift with authority to command the department.

Accomplishing this will depend on Highsmith's office and the firefighters' union working out the wrinkles in time to gather the necessary signatures to put the measure before the voters.

Contact Dennis Evanosky at