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To:	Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Board of Directors
From:	Jeff Carman, Chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District
Date:	March 14, 2017

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Tesoro Foundation Grant for Hazardous Gas Monitor Project

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 03/14/2017

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, Director
Candace Andersen, Director
Diane Burgis, Director
Karen Mitchoff, Director
Federal D. Glover, Director

Contact:

Lon Goetsch, Asst Fire Chief (925) 941-3502

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: March 14, 2017
David Twa,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Fire Chief, or designee, to accept grant funding from the Tesoro Foundation in an amount not to exceed $49,500 for the purchase of hazardous multi-gas detection devices and related equipment in the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District.

FISCAL IMPACT:

100% Tesoro Foundation Grant. No local agency matching funds required.

BACKGROUND:

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (District) spans 372 square miles with over 742,000 permanent residents. Some of the nine incorporated cities served by the District are suburban “sleeper” communities; however, dense population and commercial centers in the cities of Concord, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, and parts of Martinez feature dozens of mid- and high-rise office buildings, multi-story, multi-residential apartment and condominium buildings, and multi-story, mixed-use commercial/residential occupancies. There are over 300 assisted-care and residential facilities within the region with elderly and/or disabled residents in frequent need of emergency medical services (EMS).

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

In addition to providing fire, rescue, EMS, and hazardous materials response, the District partners with American Medical Response (AMR) for emergency medical transport for the majority of the County.

Several major industrial sites are located in close proximity to populated areas of the District, as are railroad lines and major local and State roadways that service those industrial sites. Industrial facilities include Shell and Tesoro oil refineries, Dow Chemical, Rhodia, Air Products, Kinder-Morgan Pipelines, a PG&E generating plant, and several cogeneration power plants. Over 50 businesses handling hazardous materials are required per State regulations to develop and maintain risk management plans that are reviewed and inspected by the County. The County's Health Services Department periodically inspects over 2,600 local businesses that are involved with hazardous materials. Furthermore, during normal work hours, and for some facilities operating on a 24/7 basis, many of the corporate offices are occupied by shift employees. Examples include Bank of America, which has a 6-story processing center that encompasses a city block in downtown Concord; PMI Mortgage, which runs a 24-hour operation in a high rise building in Pleasant Hill; and Chevron, which maintains a corporate office complex.

Hazardous gas detectors aid our firefighters in protecting the community from the deadly effects of four conditions:

Lack of oxygen
Presence of carbon monoxide
Flammable gas atmospheres
Presence of hydrogen sulfide

Every year District firefighters respond to hundreds of reported gas leaks and odor investigations. Hazardous gas monitors are instrumental in maintaining and improving the safety of firefighters and the communities we serve. The District is grateful to the Tesoro Foundation for its assistance in being able to acquire multi-gas detectors for all fire companies within the District.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

The District will not be able to take advantage of this generous funding opportunity to provide each of the District's fire companies with much needed multi-gas detectors to identify hazardous working conditions.

CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT:

No impact.