The FEMA grant will cover 90 percent of the $304,766 it will take to buy the approximately 80 new radios, Heston said. The council unanimously approved to help with the purchase.

"The radios we have now are analog, you get some signals and it gets scratchy and then that's all you hear," Heston said. "Our new radios will all be digital so it's all state of the art and what's required."

The department took several models of radios and air masks to see which ones worked best for them and Heston said he let the firefighters choose the model.

The new radios have bluetooth and can connect to the new air masks the firefighters will have so the sound from air mask to air mask is crystal clear, which Heston said will improve safety. Right now, he said, talking over the radios with the air masks on is very difficult and hard to hear.

The department will trade in the old radios and any other old fire equipment, which will most likely go to another country, Heston said. Often the old equipment ends up in Mexico.

"It's not the best," said Geering. "This is no way for employees to come to work."

The station was immediately closed and signs were posted outside.

Geering wasn't happy, adding, the situation was an "embarrassment because this is no way to run a fire department."

His biggest concern is response time. He said Station 9 averages four to five calls a day.

Geering said the city of Chula Vista and his department have been aware that Station 9 was in dire need of replacing. Geering said the Chula Vista Fire Department altogether needs between $40 million to $50 million in repairs and replacements.

For now the new truck will be stationed in a bay at the electric department several blocks from the downtown station as the city seeks to design and construct a new bay for the truck at the station outside town.

The council Tuesday night agreed to reject the bid, abandon raising the roof and end plans to build drive-through bays on the downtown station.

The decisions are the latest in a chain of events begun as Lebanon and LCNB developed a new bank building and headquarters next to the downtown fire station.

The council and staff discussed moving the downtown station, possibly as part of a safety complex on the site of the former city garage, which had been moved as part of efforts to encourage business development along the city’s North Broadway Corridor.

City finances are stretched in operating the department primarily on funds from a 7-mill levy that generates $2.7 million a year. In addition to equipment costs, the city is absorbing the cost of hiring additional full-time firefighters