HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-80 - Supporting the Newport Beach Fire DepartmentRESOLUTION NO. 2020-80
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA, SUPPORTING
THE NEWPORT BEACH FIRE DEPARTMENT
WHEREAS, the Newport Beach Fire Department has more than a 100 -year history
of serving the Newport Beach community with safety, service, and professionalism;
WHEREAS, the Newport Beach Fire Department employs 118 sworn fire
personnel who normally work a 48-hour shift, and has 38 personnel assigned each day
to the City's eight fire stations;
WHEREAS, fire personnel need to be able to respond to any situation at a
moment's notice;
WHEREAS, providing mutual aid to other communities through the California
Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) is typical in the course of business for fire
departments throughout the state;
WHEREAS, the wildfire season started early with the first call for mutual aid on
May 31, 2020, and the Newport Beach Fire Department deployed a captain to Northern
California near the Oregon border;
WHEREAS, over the course of a 43 -day period from the end of July through early
September, 26 fire personnel and one civilian from the Newport Beach Fire Department
responded to 13 fires in California;
WHEREAS, two Newport Beach battalion chiefs led a team of five engines from
Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, and Laguna Beach as
they responded to three different fires over the course of two weeks;
WHEREAS, four Newport Beach fire engines responded as part of strike teams
across the State;
WHEREAS, the department also deployed four -overhead assignments to fill the
positions of a safety officer, field observer, fire -line paramedic and base camp manager
to multiple fires;
WHEREAS, for the first time in the department's history, a civilian was deployed
for eight days serving as a damage inspection specialist (DINS);
WHEREAS, the personnel deployed faced new challenges due to the impacts of
COVID, such as having limited access to shelter and food at the base camps;
Resolution No. 2020-80
Page 2 of 3
WHEREAS, two of the fires Newport Beach Fire Department personnel responded
to quickly became the second (SCU Lightning Complex) and third (LNU Lightning
Complex) largest in California history, as Mendocino is currently the largest; and
WHEREAS, seven of the 20 largest fires in California history have occurred in the
last four years.
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Newport Beach resolves as
follows:
Section 1: The City Council does hereby express support for the members of the
Newport Beach Fire Department, in their efforts to provide exceptional service to the
Newport Beach community as well as being ready to respond within 15 minutes to mutual
aid requests, that has the potential to take them far from home and their families for a
two-week period.
Section 2: The recitals provided in this resolution are true and correct and are
incorporated into the operative part of this resolution.
Section 3: If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this resolution
is, for any reason, held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the
validity or constitutionality of the remaining portions of this resolution. The City Council
hereby declares that it would have passed this resolution, and each section, subsection,
sentence, clause or phrase hereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections,
subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid or unconstitutional.
Section 4: The City Council finds the adoption of this resolution is not subject to
the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the
activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the
environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378)
of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Division 6, Chapter 3,
because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or
indirectly.
Resolution No. 2020-80
Page 3 of 3
Section 5: This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by the
City Council, and the City Clerk shall certify the vote adopting the resolution.
ADOPTED this 22nd day of September, 2020.
ATTEST:
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Aaron C. Harp
City Attorney
Will 0 Neill
Mayor
STATE OF CALIFORNIA }
COUNTY OF ORANGE } ss.
CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH }
I, Leilani I. Brown, City Clerk of the City of Newport Beach, California, do hereby certify that the
whole number of members of the City Council is seven; the foregoing resolution, being Resolution
No. 2020-80, was duly introduced before and adopted by the City Council of said City at a regular
meeting of said Council held on the 22nd day of September, 2020; and the same was so passed and
adopted by the following vote, to wit:
AYES: Mayor Will O'Neill, Mayor Pro Tem Brad Avery, Council Member Joy Brenner, Council
Member Diane Dixon, Council Member Duffy Duffield, Council Member Jeff Herdman,
Council Member Kevin Muldoon
NAYS: None
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed the official seal of
said City this 23rd day of September, 2020.
dk� J."
LiVirani I. Brown
City Clerk
Newport Beach, California