Years of contentious meetings between Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed and an Oakland hills’ fire prevention committee boiled over Thursday night when the chief, in a 10-minute rant, threatened to sue a homeowner and claimed the organization was biased against her and used her as a scapegoat for problems in the hills.
In a heated exchange, Reed and Wildfire Prevention Assessment District (WPAD) Citizen’s Advisory Committee Chair Sue Piper, once Mayor Jean Quan’s spokeswoman, argued back and forth over how long the chief could respond to a homeowner’s comments, which included the reading of a lengthy letter. “For you to sit here and allow this individual to read this document that you haven’t reviewed, that … is full of a bunch of lies,” the chief said, her voice rising. “I’m going to be talking to my attorney about this because … I am tired of this group coming after me and trying to blame me for all the deficiencies that are going on within this group.”