After being jostled awake the other night, Monday brought another surprise — a midday text message blast from the school district:

Out of an abundance of caution, Otis Elementary and Lincoln Middle are in a shelter in place due to smoke from a fire that is several blocks away. We are in touch with Alameda Fire and will provide further updates shortly.

Pulling up the PulsePoint app, I saw a busy day not just near the East End schools but across the entire city for Alameda's first responders:

Here's a layperson's attempt at interpreting this:

• the structure fire near the corner of Otis Drive and High Street had been upgraded to a two-alarm fire, with almost all of Alameda Fire's equipment and personnel on-site
• paramedic units from the Alameda County (AC03) and City of Oakland (OKLE27) had already come to Alameda to help respond to other medical emergencies

• should more calls come into the downtown fire station 1 (on Encinal Ave) or the West End fire station 2 (on Pacific Ave), Alameda would need to rely on additional mutual aid from neighboring departments to respond

I momentarily listened to the radio, was reassured to hear that it sounded like AFD was getting the Otis Drive house fire under control, and figured my kids were probably in their classrooms watching movies or something equally entertaining to pass the time indoors.

The East Bay Times later reported that:

ALAMEDA — A fire damaged a home here on Monday, but firefighters kept it from spreading to neighboring houses, officials said.

[...]

Thirty-three firefighters put the fire out in about 25 minutes. Crews remained at the home past 1:30 p.m. to monitor hot spots and clean up.

The good news is that this fire was put out promptly before spreading to any other houses, let alone actually threatening any schools. But to accomplish that required 33 personnel, leaving half of the city's four fire stations to be covered by off-island mutual aid.

If this blog believed in melodrama, this is when I'd ask what would happen if the other night's earthquake had severed the tubes? and the bridges? and destroyed the Oakland-Alameda Water Shuttle and Pasta Pelican in a giant tidal wave? Well, then clearly we wouldn't be able to rely on "AC03" or "OKLE27" to come help respond to medical emergencies while Alameda Fire is dealing with a two-alarm structure fire. We'd be on our own!!!

But instead of exaggerated melodrama, this blog prefers skimming documents:

• In 2024, the city hired a consulting firm to draft a Community Risk Assessment: Standards of Cover & Deployment Analysis. There's also a shorter executive summary that begins with this general finding:

The island of Alameda faces elevated challenges to mutual aid access from other fire agencies and threats posed by the under and overwater road network (bridges and tunnels).

• While the 360 page report touches on many aspects of fire facilities and operations, the report and executive summary calls particular attention to a lack of nearby coverage for Alameda Point:

• Alameda Fire Station 5 was originally built as part of the Naval Air Station, but was shuttered by the city in 2009. Since then, the Pacific Ave station 2 has been responsible for responding to all calls at existing and new developments at Alameda Point, in addition to its own service area:

• In December, City Council approved hiring consultants to analyze substantially rehabilitating the NAS-era Fire Station 5 and/or building a new replacement, among other city-owned facilities in potential need of major repairs.
• Building and staffing a fire station at Alameda Point wouldn't be for Alameda Point. It could bolster service across the entire city, and reduce the city's need to call on mutual aid on days like this one, when everything suddenly happens at once.
• City Council will be continuing their series of workshops on the city's infrastructure needs, and the next topic — scheduled for early October — will be about city facilities and public safety.

Turns out my kids were in fact in their classrooms watching movies during most of the fire. Some initial confusion aside, sounds like everything that actually mattered went just fine for the students. Thank you, Otis Elementary teachers and staff, and thank you, Alameda firefighters. (And I trust that everything was fine for the tweens at Lincoln Middle School, perhaps just with more attitude?)