Chula Vista Fire Department Station 1 underwent termite tenting from June 14-17, a prelude to a roof makeover scheduled to begin later this month.
Fire personnel – who live round the clock in the station at 447 F Street – were temporarily moved to a location around a mile away on Bay Boulevard.
CVFD Captain Jeff Ewert said crews were given a week to pack their belongings in preparation, and that all equipment and technology was still available at the temporary station.
“We’ve been working diligently in order to make sure that our calls for service and our effectiveness in Station 1’s district are not interrupted whatsoever,” Ewert said on June 13, a day before the move.
One factor taken into account was the temporary location’s close proximity to freeways, enabling the department to maintain its call response times.
“Everything we need to run our calls for service effectively are going to be flawless,” Ewert said.
Ewert explained that the need for the termite tenting was not because of a “catastrophic event,” but rather normally scheduled maintenance that will lead nicely into an upcoming roof replacement project on the nearly 80-year-old station.
“These are just normal things that have to be replaced so we can stay in business,” Ewert said.
The project, which will take approximately 30 days to complete, will not displace fire personnel. The station already boasts a newly remodeled kitchen area, and its new roof will be funded by Measure P, a temporary 10-year half cent sales tax increase passed by voters in 2016.
The Measure P expenditure plan, released in 2017, allocated a total of nearly $23 million to fire station repairs and replacements over the 10-year period, which started in fiscal year 2016-17, and set aside $3.5 million on a cash basis for repairs and replacements during fiscal year 2018-19.
This number jumps to $5.3 million in fiscal year 2019-20 – just under half of the amount of all funds estimated to be available for infrastructure spending during that time – which suggests the city has placed early priority on fire station maintenance.
“Having the Measure P approved when it did.. that was huge,” Ewert said. “It’s freed up not only the fire departments but all the city for that type of infrastructure that has needed to be replaced so we have that avenue for success there.”
The Chula Vista city council voted earlier this month to adopt the proposed budget for 2019-20, which approved $3.1 million of Measure P funds to go towards fire station repairs and replacements.
“These are the exact items throughout the city that the Measure P funds are designed to do,” Ewert said.
Measure P funds have previously been used to purchase two new fire engines housed at Station 7, and, earlier this year, a single fire engine which resides at Station 4.
