Standing in front of his vehicle is Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District Battalion Chief Brian Gonsalves of Battalion 5 in the bay of Fire Station 114 in North Highlands at the McClellan Airport. The cabin of their vehicle, which is independent from the fire engines, trucks or ambulance, contains a plethora of radio devices, as well as their Tablet Command system.

NORTH SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - An alarm rings at the fire station; everyone stops what they’re doing and is rolling out the door in under 90 seconds headed straight toward an emergency with sirens blaring and lights flashing. 

The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District responds to medical emergencies, traffic accidents and fires, but to organize the proper personnel to safely and efficiently tackle the emergency, an experienced supervisor, known as a battalion chief, coordinates each team involved throughout the incident. 

Battalion Chief Brian Gonsalves of Battalion 5 said that his job is to maintain accountability during a service call, set up with a plethora of technological equipment to assist him in assessing situations as they develop and communicate with the appropriate channels. He likes working Battalion 5, Gonsalves said, because he feels connected to the community, protecting an area he grew up in as a third-generation North Sacramento native.

“I’ve worked in North Highlands a number of years but I also have an aunt and two cousins that live in Rio Linda, so I get to hear about things going on, hear about the fires or I’m on the incident,” Gonsalves said. 

The battalion chief operates independently from any particular station, with Gonsalves managing a total of eight stations between Citrus Heights, North Highlands, Rio Linda and Antelope. 

Gonsalves said he’s constantly pulled in many different directions, shifting between administrative duties such as scheduling, a crucial and complicated but necessary task; and coordinating emergency personnel throughout his battalion. 

The firehouse crew and battalion chiefs run a coordinated schedule between A, B and C shifts, all rotating more than 48-hour periods. Yes, their shifts are 48 hours at a time but each fire station is equipped with a refrigerator for each shift, a sleeping quarters of some kind and a place to eat. Each shift pitches in, out of their own pocket, to keep the refrigerators stocked up.

“The last 10 years, the technology and apps and everything have been pretty impactful for our day-to-day stuff,” Gonsalves said. 

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District Battalion Chief Brian Gonsalves of Battalion 5 responds to a grass fire in North Highlands on Aug. 27. The battalion chief has everything they need to communicate and coordinate with other emergency personnel during an incident.

Equipped in Sac Metro’s vehicles, as well as other agencies in the county, are tablets loaded with a program known as Tablet Command, a program for incident management, providing comprehensive and live updates of personnel, resource requests, communication channels and time stamps, according to Tablet Command’s website. The program overlays incident information over a map display that provides the battalion chief in command and their crew with the blueprint information on certain commercial structures, so that first responders can safely and effectively address the emergency at hand.

“(Tablet Command) shows all my units that are responding and I can drag them into the correct spot that I’m assigning them to do a job, to work or something like that,” Gonsalves said. “If they’re on fire-attack or search or ventilation, I can drag them into that spot and then I can manage who is there.”

The battalion chief has everything they need to communicate and coordinate with other emergency personnel during an incident. The cabin of their vehicle, which is independent from the fire engines, trucks or ambulance, contains a plethora of radio devices, as well as their Tablet Command system. The battalion chief also carries multiple resources with them in the event that the chain of communication malfunctions or is inoperable.

Gonsalves said that his position is unique in that he does not always have a partner with him in the vehicle and he might bounce around from incident to incident, as well as perform the aforementioned administrative tasks.  

Fire Captain Kurt Katsuyoshi at Station 24 in North Highlands said that Gonsalves was on the hiring committee at Station 24 more than a decade ago and was a part of the team that brought him on from Stockton Fire. He said Gonsalves is the type of leader “nobody wants to disappoint.”

Katsuyoshi said he has watched Gonsalves rise in rank, joining the Task Force 7 Urban Search and Rescue team, which has been deployed at least once a year in the past five years responding to natural disasters, such as the Oklahoma City Bombing, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Dorian.

“The biggest thing is to maintain accountability,” Gonsalves said. “That’s my whole job, as battalion chief, is to maintain accountability, so that people aren't getting lost or trapped or something happening at the incident that we don’t want to have happen.”

Sac Metro Fire Station 111 in Rio Linda is hosting an open house for the community on Sept. 6 from 10 a.m. to noon. Fire station 111 is located at 6609 Rio Linda Boulevard in Rio Linda and will feature a 100-year-old antique fire engine unique to Rio Linda, named ‘Old Betsy”.