In the Oakland hills, where a massive fire destroyed almost 3,000 houses 27 years ago, a resident recently called the police to report a “suspicious” black person.
A black firefighter conducting city-mandated inspections around homes in the Oakland hills was reported to police and, on a separate occasion, questioned and videotaped by a resident who found him suspicious, even though he was in full uniform with his fire truck parked nearby.
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Vince Crudele, who supervises the inspection program, said firefighters “absolutely” have the right, listed plainly in the California Fire Code, to conduct exterior property inspections while residents aren’t home. The department sends out pamphlets before the program begins, hosts community meetings and gets the word out through neighborhood groups, Crudele said.
Yet last month, firefighter Kevin Moore — while wearing a full uniform, with a radio and clipboard — was reported to police for doing a standard inspection.
“I try to put myself in other people’s shoes, like if I see someone in my yard, I’d ask what they’re doing,” Moore said. “That’s why I always call out, ‘Hello! Hello! Oakland Fire Department!’ Because I want to be heard. I just don’t want somebody to look out their window and see somebody in their backyard. I’m not trying to be incognito.”
His colleague, firefighter Megan Bryan, said she was an acting officer that day, May 16, and got a call from a 911 emergency dispatcher, wanting to check that they were indeed doing vegetation inspections. A resident concerned about Moore had apparently called dispatchers, Bryan said.
Then again, another day another resident called. —
Moore said he did his usual routine: knocked on the door, waited about a minute and yelled “Oakland Fire!” Then he stepped into the yard, which had no gate, and started noting the many vegetation hazards in his paperwork.
As Moore was finishing up, he said he turned around to find the resident outside near the front steps of the house, video-recording him on a cell phone.
These residents may want to think about who might be the one to rescue them during another fire, or if they have a medical emergency.
City records show that Moore, who recently transferred to station 24 in Montclair, from one in the flats of East Oakland, was among a group of firefighters honored by the City Council for “bravery and heroism” in 2008 when they jumped into a ravine to save passengers trapped inside an overturned vehicle during a rainstorm, then waded through the canal in search of an ejected 10-month-old baby.
No good deed goes unpunished.