It's dangerous to underfund fire departments

By Gillian Garaci, Pittsburg | 6/29/2021

Regarding “East Bay suburbs lack resources to fight fires” (Front Page, June 25): As a resident of Pittsburg, a city only a few miles away from Brentwood, it is certainly distressing to hear that east Contra Costa is struggling to cope with the increasingly devastating wildfire season. Proposition 13 has come up time and time again during this past election year, popping up as a source of California’s problems. First it was our underfunded public schools, now its our under-resourced fire departments. There really needs to be a change with Prop. 13 in these coming years if we don’t want to backslide, not just with our taxation policies but also with our response to environmental disasters. We should not be pinching pennies when it comes to the safety of our community.

My hometown is Pittsburg, and although I moved to Alameda County for college, my parents still live in Pittsburg and will likely grow old in Pittsburg. I will not gamble on their safety because we do not want to fund our fire departments, and neither should anyone when it comes to our families.