![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/img_3621_720.jpg\")
Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (at lectern) announced $500,000 in federal funding for regional fire training on May 5, 2026. From left, Berkeley Fire Fighters Association President Amory Langmo, Albany Fire Department Chief Tim Smyser, Berkeley Fire Department Chief David Sprague, Simon, Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii and Albany Mayor Peggy McQuaid. Credit: Alex N. Gecan\/Berkeleyside<\/p>\n
Firefighters around the East Bay frequently need to work together, and for that reason, they want to train together. U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon announced a $500,000 federal allocation Tuesday for firefighters in Berkeley and several nearby communities to do just that.<\/p>\n
Berkeley Fire Department Chief David Sprague said officials are hoping to put the money toward a facility to simulate structure fires, though the details of the project, including when and where it would be built, are still to be decided. Firefighters from Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Kensington and Richmond, as well as countywide agencies in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, have formed a consortium to train together and share facilities.<\/p>\n
The funds, split between Berkeley and Albany, are part of an $11.2 million allotment Simon secured for 15 different projects<\/a> around her East Bay district for shoreline park development, university research and equipment, violence prevention and intervention programs and a hodgepodge of other infrastructure upgrades.<\/p>\n Simon\u2019s office originally requested $3 million for the consortium, according to her official webpage<\/a>. On Tuesday she acknowledged that the $500,000 that came back was just \u201ca drop in the bucket in terms of what we have to do in terms of federal, state and local electeds to bring more resources to public safety.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n On the other hand, Simon said, \u201cIt\u2019s not oftentimes in this moment, in this administration, where we can come together and say, \u2018We\u2019re bringing money back home.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n BFD\u2019s facilities are already getting upgrades<\/p>\n Simon\u2019s visit Tuesday included a tour of a facility the Berkeley Fire Department has built at Ninth and Gilman streets to house the city\u2019s Emergency Operations Center and administrative offices that were previously distributed across four different sites.<\/p>\n BFD determined years ago that all 10 of its facilities need at least extensive remodeling or renovation, and in most cases, complete replacement or relocation. The master plan for fire facilities was projected to cost the city up to $372 million as of 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n The training facilities BFD has used lately were built half a century ago or earlier, \u201cwhen the mission of the organization was substantially more narrow,\u201d Sprague said Tuesday. Since then call volumes have skyrocketed, nearly tripling between 1995 and 2022. Firefighters and paramedics have had to take on new kinds of emergency calls and fires themselves have evolved as more household goods are built out of quick-burning synthetics and lithium ion batteries have proliferated.<\/p>\n When BFD asked the City Council for permission to lease six parcels on Eighth and Ninth streets in 2024, part of the department\u2019s reasoning was that its training facility on Cedar Street was already \u201cpacked beyond capacity with personnel,\u201d the single classroom there was too small and the department needed more classrooms.<\/p>\n On top of that, since the Cedar Street site is in a residential area, it \u201chas created an untenable situation for neighbors and unrealistic limitations\u201d on how and how late firefighters can train there, Sprague wrote to the council in 2023.<\/p>\n When the new six-part site is completed it will also house the city\u2019s Fire Prevention Division, academy classes for aspiring firefighters and other training facilities for professional firefighters and paramedics. The funding announced Tuesday, however, may go to constructing a training simulation facility elsewhere in Berkeley or outside the city entirely.<\/p>\n Moving some of BFD\u2019s offices into Northwest Berkeley has the added benefit of freeing up space in the city\u2019s main public safety building downtown on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where the emergency dispatch center has outgrown its office space<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the parcels will act as a \u201creserve firehouse,\u201d Sprague said, so while BFD upgrades the rest of its facilities around the city, crews can use the Gilman District complex \u201cinstead of having them living in a construction site.\u201dThe Gilman District facility also houses BFD\u2019s employee wellness center which, Sprague said, is \u201con the cutting edge for our profession.\u201d Firefighters and paramedics can use the center for working out, rehab, nutrition advice and building \u201cmental immunity\u201d to the stress<\/a> of running into fires, chemical leaks and car crashes for a living, Sprague said Tuesday.<\/p>\n “*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (at lectern) announced $500,000 in federal funding for regional fire training on May 5, 2026.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[3571,21375,127492,175,53674,2465,2466,14135,143,145,144],"class_list":["post-301711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-albany","tag-berkeley-fire-department","tag-berkeley-firefighters-association","tag-fires","tag-gilman-district","tag-home-highlight","tag-home-lead","tag-northwest-berkeley","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778028069_102_image.jpeg\")
Berkeley Fire Department Chief David Sprague (left) leads Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, Mayor Adena Ishii and other officials on a tour of BFD\u2019s facilities on Ninth Street. Credit: Alex N. Gecan\/Berkeleyside<\/p>\n