Alameda County Fire Chief Sheldon Gilbert presented a view of his dynamic organization at a recent Dublin Rotary Club meeting. Gilbert commands about 405 firefighters in 28 stations covering some 506 square miles serving 384,000 people in the unincorporated portions of Alameda County along with the cities of Newark, Union City, San Leandro, and Dublin. Alameda County Fire Department also serves the Lawrence National Laboratories in Berkeley and Livermore. In addition to suppressing fires, the department has an impressive list of services including advanced life support rescue, hazardous materials mitigation, urban search and rescue, water rescue, community education, disaster preparedness, fire prevention and code compliance, and regional dispatch.

Chief Gilbert gave highlights of the Fire and Emergency Services Strategic Business Plan for 2010-2017, which was adopted last October. He outlined the very comprehensive strategic planning process that was undertaken. The result of that process is a set of strategic initiatives covering Staffing, Training, Internal Communications, Performance Management, Success Planning/Career Development, Fire Consolidations, Dispatch Consolidations, Marketing, Diversity, Finance, Policy Development, and Sustainability.

The plan is intended to reflect the organization’s evolving change to a large organization. It is responsive to input that was received from employees and the community, addresses financial impacts and realities, is results-driven and accountability-oriented, and has now been adopted by the Board of Supervisors as well as its four client cities.

The plan is forward-looking. In 2011 the focus is on managing the economic downturn by gaining efficiencies without raising costs, spreading overhead costs and developing alternative funding. Health care clinics are being introduced at some stations and dispatch is being consolidated with the new EMS provider that has been selected. The chief repeatedly stressed that the organization is being run like a private business: providing the best possible services at the lowest practical costs.