By Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
San Francisco Chronicle
Copyright 2007 San Francisco Chronicle
All Rights Reserved

SAN PABLO, Calif. — A disturbing question lingers from the San Pablo house fire over the weekend that killed a couple and two Contra Costa County Fire Protection District firefighters — whether an engine company initially dispatched to the fire, but then called back, could have prevented the tragedy.

The engine company was with the Richmond Fire Department, and its station was 2 miles from the house on Michelle Drive that burned early Saturday — closer than the county station with the doomed firefighters.

Dispatchers with Contra Costa's call center initially sent the Richmond firefighters out there along with the county engine, according to officials from both agencies, but promptly recalled the Richmond unit and sent a second company from the county instead.

When the Richmond firefighters were finally dispatched again 20 minutes later, the mission had changed. Instead of fighting the fire, their first job was to help pull out the bodies of two Contra Costa Fire Protection District firefighters, Capt. Matt Burton and Fire Engineer Scott Desmond, who died trying to save the couple who lived in the house.

Relations between the two departments have been tense since a fire killed three children at a Richmond townhouse last year. Backup units from the Richmond department didn't arrive to fight that blaze for 5 1/2 minutes, while firefighters from a county station that was three minutes away were never called.

After that disaster, the county and Richmond fire agencies reached an agreement under which the nearest firehouse would respond to an emergency, regardless of city boundaries.

No one is willing to say whether Saturday's deaths could have been averted had the Richmond engine company gone out right away. But Richmond Fire Chief Michael Banks said, "Clearly, it would have changed the scenario for the fire operation. ... The idea of a quick response is to catch a fire in the initial phase before it grows into a larger fire.''

Saturday's events began when a private alarm company notified the Contra Costa Fire Protection District's dispatch center of the blaze about 1:45 a.m. The center called out a county crew from Engine 70 on San Pablo Avenue, 4 miles from the house. That crew included Burton and Desmond.

Dispatchers also radioed a second crew — Richmond's Engine Co. 68, which was half as far away as Engine 70. But just one minute later, at 1:48 a.m., a dispatcher canceled the Richmond call.

According to Contra Costa fire district Chief Keith Richter, the cancellation order was given because county Engine 73 from neighboring Pinole had just wrapped up a nearby medical call, and reported in that it was also available to answer the alarm.

Richter says the crews from companies 70 and 73 arrived on Michelle Drive within seconds of one another, although a precise timeline was not available.

Burton and Desmond were looking through the house for Delbert Moore, 67, and his wife, Gayle Moore, 62, when a burst of flames overtook them. The couple's bodies were later found in the kitchen.

Department frictions aside, both the Richmond and Contra Costa fire chiefs do agree on one point in Saturday's aftermath — it's time for the two departments to share a single dispatch center, and end the communication delays that have added to their headaches.