For years, Rohnert Park had a bad reputation among local fire departments.
Fire bosses in neighboring cities said Rohnert Park’s firefighters lacked training and supervision, were understaffed and relied too heavily on outside agencies to extinguish fires and call the shots.
City Hall and public safety officials have flatly dismissed the criticisms. But then the city’s dual Public Safety Department took a hard look at itself ? and began to overhaul its fire division. The department also takes in the police force in Rohnert Park, where sworn members fill both law enforcement and firefighting roles. It returned to basic firefighting drills — and began conducting more of them. It instructed firefighters to attack fires more aggressively. And it pushed more officers into even deeper training, expanding the ranks of fire engineers and captains with the skills to supervise fire attacks.
The result has been a cultural change at the unusual agency, which cross-trains its police officers to fight both crime and fire. Firefighting skills, recently considered a specialty, now are viewed in the department as a necessity, said Cmdr. Mike Bates, who is leading the overhaul.
“It’s not business as usual,” Bates said.