For the past 40 years, Hollister’s firefighters have called a
converted tractor repair shop in the heart of downtown home. But in
two weeks, the city’s first ever, tailor-made fire station will
finally open its doors
– consummating a project more than a year in the making.
Hollister – For the past 40 years, Hollister’s firefighters have called a converted tractor repair shop in the heart of downtown home. But in two weeks, the city’s first ever, tailor-made fire station will finally open its doors – consummating a project more than a year in the making.
Workers building the station, located on the corner of Union Road and Airline Highway, broke ground last January and are putting the finishing touches on it now, according to Chief Bill Garringer.
All the major construction work has been completed on the 8,000 square-foot station for a couple months, but crews are still installing counter tops in the front lobby area, the phone system, radio equipment and other minor details, Garringer said.
Fire personnel, city council members and others will dedicate the city’s second station with a grand-opening celebration on Feb. 23 at 1:30pm. Plaques will be presented to those involved, speeches will be read, tours will be walked and hamburgers and hot-dogs will be grilled, Garringer said.
“We’ll put the flag up the pole and put the station in service,” he said.
The station, which city officials had been discussing for about five years, squeaked in just under it’s $2.5 million budget with $100,000 to spare, said Luis Aguilar, city engineer and project manager. By minimizing extra costs and sticking strictly to the plan engineers were able to cut out any extraneous costs that would have kicked the station over its budget, he said.
“But no project is perfect,” Aguilar said. “We missed some minor things and that’s what we’re doing right now. But we’re still under budget.”
Included in the new station will be an exercise room, a state-of-the-art kitchen that includes a stove that automatically turns off when someone leaves, a workshop for repairing equipment and a community room accessible to the public for meetings or get-togethers, Garringer said.
Three people will man the new station during a 24-hour period, including a firefighter, captain and engineer, while five other on-duty personnel will respond from the downtown station. The department, which has 27 employees including the chief and 25 paid, on-call volunteer firefighters, is broken up into three companies. Two engine companies, made up of a firefighter, captain and engineer, will run out of both stations and are the ones responsible for extinguishing a fire, Garringer said. Two people man a third truck company, which is responsible for searching a burning building, ventilating it and conducting a variety of other jobs to support the other firefighters, he said.
Garringer wants to hire a third person to supplement his staff, but the city’s cash-strapped status prohibits him from doing so, he said. A new grant initiated by President Bush this year will allocate $65 million to fire departments around the country, and Garringer is hoping to get a piece of the pie, he said.
“It sounds like it will be hard to get,” he said. “I haven’t seen it yet, but we will be applying for it.”
Hollister Mayor Pauline Valdivia handed out promotions during Monday night’s City Council meeting to firefighters who will man the new station. Three newly-designated captains and four engineers were promoted to manage the new station and run one of the engine companies, Garringer said.
More than a year ago, the city decided to build a second station at that location because the department wasn’t able to keep pace with Hollister’s growing population. A large part of Hollister’s newer homes are in the south area of town, and firefighters couldn’t respond quick enough during an emergency, Garringer said. Emergency response in a life and death situation should be four minutes or less, but it was taking between seven to 10 minutes to respond, and Garringer said.
Valdivia was ecstatic about the new station’s completion, and said she wants to begin planning for a third because protection on the west side of town heading toward San Juan Bautista is lacking.
“Even with the (building) moratorium and funding shortages, now look, we have another fire station,” Valdivia said. “We’re finally getting out of our slump.”
City and county officials have been discussing how to better protect the county since a fire task force was assembled last July. One of the ideas being tossed around is a fire district that would combine all of the fire departments within the county into one large district – although each department would keep its autonomy. Garringer, who is a member, has said that while it wouldn’t be cheaper, it would be a more efficient way to provide protection for all areas of the county.
Valdivia said a fire district would be a good venture, only if the county has the resources to pull it off.
“I think it would behoove the whole area if we did,” she said. “It would be step in the right direction, but right now we’re still in the baby steps.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
