By Alan M. Petrillo

The Chula Vista (CA) Fire Department last year opened two new single-story fire stations—Fire Station 5 at 341 Orange Ave. and Fire Station 3 at 100 Moss St.—that were paid for by the voter-approved Measure P, a 10-year, half-cent sales tax designed to be used to fund critical infrastructure projects.

The two stations follow on the heels of the construction of the two-story Fire Station 10 two years prior that serves the master-planned community of Millenia located in southeast Chula Vista.

Josh Sanders, Chula Vista Fire’s captain and public information officer, says that as one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, Chula Vista needed to increase its number of fire stations, now at 10 but expected to rise to 12 by 2025. He notes that 2021 was Chula Vista’s centennial year, as well as the year it began the fire department’s ambulance transport system to augment its Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance response, which required the department to get more apparatus under one roof in various parts of the city.

“Fire Station 5 is 12,310 square feet and has three double-deep, drive-through apparatus bays, and 10 individual bunk rooms,” Sanders points out. “The station holds a Type 1 engine, a cross-staffed OES (Office of Emergency Services) Type 3 wildland engine, and two medic ambulances, each staffed by a paramedic and emergency medical technician (EMT).” He adds that on-site improvements include personnel and public parking, a generator, fueling station, hose-drying area, landscaping, and storm water biofiltration areas.

Christie Jewett, design principal at Jeff Katz Architecture, which designed and built all three stations, says Fire Station 5 shares a community complex with a library, and that the design had to be complementary to the surrounding area of single-story residences. “Off the apparatus bays there is a full decontamination room holding a washer/extractor, turnout gear drying cabinet, commercial grade washer and dryer, a large decon sink area, and a decon shower,” Jewett says. “There’s also a single-occupancy restroom off the bays, as well as a turnout gear storage room with GearGrid 30-by-30-inch lockers with storage beneath them.”

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Posted: Jan 20, 2022

Photo of the Day: January 20, 2022

Sutphen—Westmere (NY) Fire Department SPH112 platform quint. Monarch cab and chassis; Cummins X12 500-hp engine; Hale Qmax 1,500-gpm pump; 300-gallon polypropylene water tank; 112-foot platform ladder; Harrison 10-kW generator. Dealer: Phil Vander Molen, Vander Molen Fire Apparatus Sales and Service, Syracuse, NY.

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