By Rowena Coetsee
The Contra Costa Times
BRADFORD ISLAND, Calif. — This Delta island’s largest landowner and others with property here discovered too late that the fire protection they thought they could depend on didn’t exist.
“You take for granted when you see a firetruck going out that it’s there to help and protect,” said Paul Sosnowski, a Marin County resident who owns more than 1,300 acres on the approximately 2,000-acre island that began burning Saturday morning.
The blaze destroyed four of his six homes an A-frame dwelling and three, two-bedroom structures causing an estimated $675,000 in damage, he said. Insurance won’t cover everything, Sosnowski added, noting that he’ll end up paying $150,000 out of pocket.
What began as a brush fire charred hundreds of acres and ignited peat vegetation that continues to smolder.
Amid the confusion, many of those who own property here mistakenly assumed the firefighters who showed up would leap into action. They had no idea their property was in no man’s land in terms of fire protection.
“One would hope that when they buy the real estate, someone tells them that,” said Chris Boyer, manager of Contra Costa County’s Office of Emergency Services.
Personnel from the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District came out four times over the course of two days, twice dispatching a battalion chief and a couple of engines as well as sending a fire boat more than once. But crews didn’t roll out the hoses.
It’s not the fact that Bradford Island is sparsely populated there were 40 houses and 48 people there, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, and not much has changed since then. Most of the houses are vacation homes, property owners say.
Rather, it’s that the island isn’t in his agency’s jurisdiction, acting chief Hugh Henderson said.
The district responded because it received reports that people were in the vicinity of houses that were burning or trapped by fire.
District personnel subsequently determined that no lives were in immediate danger, which is why the agency called off the helicopters it had requested from CalFire and East Bay Regional Parks to drop water.
“We want to help people when they need help "... we’ll normally respond to make sure there’s no life safety issue, but we can’t commit our resources if it’s not life safety,” Henderson said.
Strapped for money, East Contra Costa Fire last month decided to close two of the eight stations it operates on July 16. And unless it can find a way to generate more revenue, the district will run out of money in three years.
But that doesn’t appease Sosnowski, who has plans to develop a resort here.
“If you’re going to fine-tune the legal wording of what their job is, they should send a (notice) to every landowner and say, ‘I am sorry we cannot respond to you in case of emergency.’ If they don’t do that, they’re negligent,” he said.
Two of Sosnowski’s destroyed homes were full-time rentals, one was a weekend rental, and one was vacant, according to his property manager.
Longtime property owner Rob Davies also assumed the fire district would combat the blaze.
When there have been fires in the past, on-call firefighters from Bethel Island have come out, he recalled.
“I always figured we had representation,” the Moraga resident said.
Although Henderson believes Bethel Island used to provide paid, on-call firefighters, he said that service disappeared when that fire district was folded into East Contra Costa Fire in 2002.
Cattle rancher Karen Cunningham and homeowner Mike Warren mistakenly thought some of their property taxes were for fire protection.
“Nothing in the tax bill says ‘Warning! Warning! You do not have fire (protection),’ ” said Warren, whose house was spared but isn’t insured.
The $10 that homeowners pay annually for emergency medical services pays for firefighters to get additional medical training and equipment but doesn’t cover fire suppression.
Bradford Island hasn’t been part of any fire district in the county for decades, if ever, according to maps that date to the 1960s, said Lou Ann Texeira, executive director of the Contra Costa Local Area Formation Commission, which oversees government boundaries in the county.
Nor is it unique: Jersey and Quimby islands are in the same boat, as is Frank’s and Webb tracts, Texeira said.
Bradford Island property owners could have, and still can, apply to the formation commission to be annexed to a fire district, but one key consideration in approving such a change is whether that fire district is able and willing to provide service, she said.
An alternative would be for the reclamation district that serves the island to apply on their behalf, something it can do because its board of directors all own property there and consequently have a stake in its safety, Texeira said.
County Supervisor Federal Glover, who represents the island, said the lack of fire protection has never been raised as far as he can recall.
Meanwhile, hot spots on the island are still smoldering as people there band together using their own equipment to prevent more flare-ups.
American Red Cross has offered hotel vouchers to all residents along with debit cards for food and other necessities, not just the dozen or so who accepted the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office request to evacuate, spokesman Jimmy Lee said.
The sheriff’s marine patrol also is monitoring the situation along with the county Office of Emergency Services, he said.
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