By ops@our-hometown.com | on August 18, 2022

Randy Mendosa ‘We are reaching out’

ARCATA – As Cal Poly Humboldt marches forward with plans to increase enrollment and build more student housing, the Arcata Fire District is trying to figure out how it will respond to the expected increase in emergency calls.

The rapid expansion of Cal Poly is in addition to the high-density development called for in the Arcata Gateway Plan, a draft land-use document which is being created, revised and studied by the City of Arcata. The Gateway Plan calls for an increase of 3,500 residential units in a 138-acre area directly west of Arcata’s core downtown area, with buildings as high as eight stories.

“It is already clear that these community improvements, whether in tandem or separate, will have a dramatic impact on the Fire District’s staffing, logistics, finances, apparatus need and overall operations,” Arcata Fire Chief Justin McDonald wrote in a staff report to the district’s Board of Directors. “It should also be noted that rapid increase of student, staff, and faculty population to our District will not be commensurate with the tax revenue the District can generate to cover staffing and equipment needs.”

The issue was discussed by the AFD board during its Aug. 9 meeting held on Zoom.

AFD President Randy Mendosa characterized the Cal Poly expansion and Gateway Plan as “great projects,” but added “The concern of our fire district is keeping up with this expansion.”

Mendosa said the district wants to work closely with Cal Poly and the City of Arcata to make sure the district’s needs are considered.

“We are reaching out to the two organizations,” Mendosa said. The district invited a representative of Cal Poly to appear at the Aug. 9 meeting, but none were able to attend.

The district serves a 62-square-mile area which includes Arcata, McKinleyville, Bayside, Manila and Jacoby Creek. The impacts of the Cal Poly expansion will likely be seen beyond the Arcata city limits, with faculty, staff and students finding housing in McKinleyville and other nearby communities.

Some of the fire district’s concerns involve infrastructure and street design. The district wants to make sure its fire trucks can access new buildings. There needs to be an adequate water supply to fight fires.

The most difficult challenge the district faces is having enough firefighters.

“We have to have staffing – staffing, staffing staffing,” Chief McDonald told the board.

The district has 12 firefighters, a chief and an assistant chief.

It doesn’t matter how many “shiny fire engines” you have, you need staffing, McDonald said.

Another concern is how the district would respond to fires in the high-rise buildings proposed by Cal Poly and those included in the Gateway Plan.

Cal Poly plans to break ground on the $150 million Craftsman Mall student housing project in January. The project would provide 1,050 beds.

Chief McDonald said that based on the plans he’s seen it would include two seven-story tall buildings.

This poses several challenges for the district, which no longer has a ladder truck. The closest ladder truck is operated by Humboldt Bay Fire in Eureka. The response time, under optimal circumstances, would be about 15 minutes.

“Buying a ladder truck doesn’t solve the problem,” Mendosa said.

In order to safely operate a ladder truck, firefighters need ongoing training. The district is understaffed as it is and doesn’t have the luxury of allowing its firefighters extra time to train on a ladder truck.

Assistant Fire Chief Sean Campbell said that a high rise fire requires from six to nine firefighters just to get a hose nozzle on the blaze. That doesn’t include all the other fireifighters needed to manage the scene.

McDonald said about 42 to 47 firefighters total are needed for a high-rise fire.

Campbell estimated that in Humboldt County, it would take at least a couple hours to get that much mutual aid from other fire departments.

The board discussed other ideas for meeting future fire needs, including the creation of a Cal Poly fire department staffed by student volunteers, forming assessment districts in new developments to fund the fire department and asking for additional funding from the California State University system.

Some of AFD’s concerns may also be answered when the City of Arcata creates a draft Environmental Impact Report for the Arcata Gateway Plan. That document will explore the nitty-gritty details of potential developments, assess their impacts and clarify what’s required to meet them.

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