Good Samaritan Honored
The Kensington Fire Protection District Board of Directors honored Oakland resident, Neil Bobo, at their March 12, 2008 meeting. Board President, Janice Kosel, hands Mr. Bobo a Community Service Award for his good Samaritan act concerning a kitchen fire in the Kensington community.

On February 5, 2008, Mr. Bobo was driving on Arlington Avenue when he noticed smoke coming from a residence on Arlington Court. He made a u-turn and ran inside the home to find heavy smoke in the kitchen area. Mr. Bobo was handed fire extinguishers and garden hoses by neighbors to help combat the kitchen blaze. When the Kensington engine arrived on scene, Mr. Bobo, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, was soaked from head to toe. Chief Lance Maples credited him with assisting in containing the fire which could have damaged a much larger portion of the home.

KFPD Purchases New Fire Engine
In 2004 the District purchased a new Class A, Type 3 custom 4 x 4 wildland fire engine. The engine was built by Hi-Tech Fire Apparatus Corp. of Oakdale, California and was specially engineered to be versatile as a back-up structure protection engine as well as capable of offensive wild land fire attack along the ridgeline. The engine is powered by a 330-horsepower diesel engine, has a class A foam production system, a 1,000 gallon per minute fire pump and a 500-gallon water tank capacity. The engine is capable of stationary and pump-and-roll operation for moving wildland grass fire intervention and is able to seat five. It is also equipped with 1,200 feet of wild land hose to extend to a fire in the canyon, a back fire torch, and specialized wildland fire hand tools. Just like the District’s Type I vehicle, the Type 3 has full Advanced Life Support capabilities. The District was able to pay cash for the $270,000 purchase by saving the money in a long-term designated fund.

The District's Type I vehicle was purchased in 2001 for a total price of $302,000. The Type I is a Class A, Custom Pumper with a 500-gallon water tank capacity that was engineered for the narrow, steep streets in the Kensington community and the small apparatus bay at the fire station.

Wildland Interface Demonstration Project
The wildland interface demonstration project is a cooperative effort between the Kensington Fire Protection District and the East Bay Regional Park District. The goal is to establish a fire buffer zone between the community and park district land to slow the advance of fire out of the canyon.

EBRPD hand crews and Shelterbelt Builders, a private contractor hired by KFPD, removed truckloads of poison oak, scotch broom, and hemlock and mowed annual grasses. Native vegetation has been allowed to regenerate and propagate to return the area to a more natural, fire-safe state.

Fire Loss 2006
What a difference a year makes! The combined communities of Kensington and El Cerrito experienced one of its lowest fire losses in 2006. The total yearly fire loss was $422,600 with incidents down slightly from previous years. The fires occurred on properties valued at $15,625,000 thus fire operations saved $15,202,800 of the property value. This is a vast improvement over 2005's fire loss of $1,412,430. The 2006 fire loss is the lowest fire loss total in many years.