Accountability, Not Alarm Bells: Brentwood’s Fire Station Debate

Op Ed by Diane Burgis

Planning Commission’s reckless decision jeopardizes fire safety May 15, 2025

https://www.thepress.net/opinion/planning-commission-s-reckless-decision-jeopardizes-fire-safety/article_7550d606-2100-45df-84dc-b05acbb69598.html

RE: Supervisor Diane Burgis' Guest Comment in The Press on May 16, 2025

A Time for Accountability, Not Fear

It is disheartening—truly disheartening—to see our community's very real concerns about planning, stewardship, and public trust reduced to emotional appeals and fear-based rhetoric.

For over a decade, Brentwood has gone without a second fire station. Not because of public pushback. Not because of community inaction. But because the former East Contra Costa Fire Protection District failed to plan and manage their finances in a way that would allow them to accept the parcel on Sand Creek Road when it was completed—the very site that was prepared nearly 20 years ago to be the replacement for Fire Station 54. That parcel still sits there today: shovel-ready, surplus city property with a completed CEQA, designed and intended for this very purpose.

And yet, rather than acknowledge that oversight, rather than ask the hard questions about why we are here and whether this current plan is the best solution for the future of Brentwood, we are met with fear-mongering. With emotional appeals that suggest questioning the process means we don’t care about safety. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

We care deeply. That’s why we’re speaking up.

The community is not against a fire station. We are not against firefighters. We are against poor planning, rushed decisions, and the unwillingness of our leaders to course correct when a better path is available. This isn’t just about now—it’s about the Brentwood of 10, 20, and 50 years from now.

Government must be accountable. Decisions this important must be made with transparency, with respect for the past, and with foresight for the future. Anything less is a disservice to the people of Brentwood.

Let us do it right—together. Without shortcuts. Without manipulation. And without fear.