Brentwood's city council voted unanimously to open negotiations to sell a city-owned vacant lot at the corner of Lone Tree Way and Windy Springs Lane, moving the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District closer to building a long-awaited second fire station in the fast-growing city. The parcel is intended as the site for Fire Station 90, a two-story, 12,978-square-foot facility that will house a four-firefighter crew, sleeping quarters, a gym, office space, a kitchen, a decontamination area, and a Brentwood Police Department substation.
According to The Mercury News, the vote clears a path that has been complicated for months. The fire district had previously said the delay in building new stations was caused by not receiving planning application approvals from the city, while Brentwood officials countered that those approvals could not move forward until the land sale itself was approved. Fire Station 90 is being funded by Measure X, the local sales tax voters approved in 2020, and it is one of two new stations officials are pushing to construct for the fire district, alongside Fire Station 94 in downtown Brentwood.
Why the Land Deal Took This Long
The Lone Tree Way parcel wasn't the district's first choice. ConFire originally planned to build Station 90 on a five-acre, district-owned parcel at Empire Avenue and Amber Lane, but abandoned that site after discovering toxic soil contamination that would have required an estimated $8 million to clean up, according to Firehouse. That discovery forced ConFire to identify and pursue the Lone Tree Way site instead, which then required a fresh round of city land negotiations and design approvals.
Construction on the station is scheduled to begin in 2027 and wrap up in 2029, per SFGATE, with the finished building designed to accommodate a four-firefighter crew along with two fire trucks. Once both Station 90 and the downtown Station 94 project are complete, Brentwood will have three fire stations total, up from the single station currently serving the city.
A Decade of Strain Since Downtown's Firehouse Closed
Brentwood's need for more coverage traces back over a decade. The city's original downtown firehouse at 739 First Street, formerly Station 54, was shut down in September 2014 by the former East Contra Costa Fire Protection District due to severe funding deficits, leaving East County with just nine on-duty firefighters spread across 249 square miles, according to the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. That district was formally annexed into ConFire on June 30, 2022, expanding the fire district's territory by 45% to 553 square miles and immediately boosting East County's on-duty force from nine to 19 personnel, per Pioneer Publishers.
The stakes of those closures show up in the response-time data. Average emergency response times for calls originating within Brentwood climbed from 5 minutes 29 seconds in 2014 to 6 minutes 52 seconds in 2025, while responses from outside stations into Brentwood slowed from 5 minutes 49 seconds to 7 minutes 17 seconds, according to Contra Costa News. Brentwood's population, meanwhile, grew 20% in a decade and topped 51,000 residents in 2020, per the Mercury News report, adding pressure on a fire district that operates 35 stations across 13 cities.
Officials and Union Leaders Weigh In
County Supervisor Diane Burgis said Fire Station 90 will more evenly distribute the increasing demand for fire services across the county, according to the Mercury News. Vincent Wells, president of the local firefighters' union and a retired ConFire captain, said new fire stations are critical for Brentwood and the region, noting that each additional station provides another resource available to respond, another place from which firefighters can operate, and helps maintain coverage throughout the district.
Public comment reflected that urgency. Resident Karen Rogge wrote that Fire Station 90 was too important for the community to lose, and other residents at the meeting expressed support for the project and urged the city to approve the sale, the Mercury News reported.
Bridging the Gap While Construction Waits
ConFire has already taken steps to bridge the coverage gap while land sales and planning reviews were pending. In April 2023, the district deployed a new four-firefighter engine crew, Engine 90, to Fire Station 92 on Balfour Road, effectively doubling the firefighting resources operating from that location, according to the Contra Costa Herald. The crew remains based at Fire Station 92. The same month, ConFire upgraded all operational fire crews in East County to Advanced Life Support capability, assigning certified paramedics to every engine company where only basic EMT services had previously been available.
Not every part of the district's station-building push has gone smoothly. Aesthetic and design modifications requested by the City of Brentwood for the downtown Station 94 project generated approximately $770,000 in approved change orders, with projected costs above $1 million by August, per Contra Costa News. During an August meeting, members of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors warned that persistent municipal delays and costly design demands could force ConFire to redirect planned fire station investments to neighboring cities such as Antioch or Oakley.
Measure X, the half-cent countywide sales tax that passed in November 2020, generates roughly $120 million annually for the county and remains the primary funding source behind both Station 90 and Station 94, according to Contra Costa County. For now, Brentwood's land sale marks a concrete step forward, but full operational relief for the city's growing northern neighborhoods is still years away, with Station 90 not expected to open until 2029.
