Work starts on new east CV fire station

Construction on Chula Vista’s newest fire station broke ground in Millenia on March 29, the first of three proposed new stations in the city.

Fire Station 10, as it’s being called, is expected to be under construction for about a year and is estimated to cost $8 million in development impact fees, according to Chula Vista Fire Department Chief Jim Geering.

The station is going to have 12,000 square feet of floor space, three truck bays, and house 10 firefighters, a truck, an engine and a transport ambulance.

“The station’s going to be beautiful, and it’s going to be right down the street from residential in Millenia and commercial,” Geering said. “It’ll sort of be what I’m calling the hub of Millenia.”

Fire Station 10 will serve Millenia, Otay Ranch and Chula Vista’s eastern communities, and is expected to help the department better achieve its response-time goal of seven minutes.

“Adding a fire station will improve our distribution of resources, and in turn it will lower our response times. That’s our goal,” Geering said.

Eastern Chula Vista had already received additional fire personnel following the 2018 passing of Measure A, a half-cent sales tax meant to go toward staffing the fire and police departments.

Three firefighters – one per shift – at Fire Station 10 will be paid using funds from Measure A, while the remaining staff will be paid using a general fund.

The station is being built on the corner of Millenia Avenue and Stylus Street, making it closest to Fire Station 7, located in Otay Ranch on the opposite side of State Route 125.
Money from Measure A led to new squads being added in the east, which affected Station 7, and increased the CVFD’s response time in the area from seven minutes 55 percent of the time to seven minutes 85 percent of the time, according to Geering.

“We know we’re on the right track,” he said. “And we know that adding to the distribution of resources is effective and its working, and adding Station 10 in Millenia is going to make  further improvements.”

The department has a Fire Facility Master Plan, which has been approved by council, that calls for 12 total fire stations in the city.
Future stations are planned for both the bayfront and Village 8 West.

“As we grow and as we develop and put in more housing and more commercial and more industrial, we’ll need to keep pace with the development,” Geering said. “Our distribution of resources has to keep pace, and placing those stations will allow us to do that.”

The CVFD currently covers an area of 52 square miles and handles almost 19,000 calls for service each year, according to its website.