There’s excitement, nostalgia, and even a bit of sadness in Santa Paula.
Work is officially getting underway on a long overdue new fire station for the city. Community leaders have gathered to celebrate the milestone. But, for it to happen, the longtime 10th Street fire station, built in 1935, has to be torn down.
John Wade started with the Santa Paula Fire Department in 1966, when it was a volunteer department. He admits seeing the station brings up a lot of emotions.
"Every time you see this building...driving by it even as a kid, I remember seeing this fire station," said Wade.
Rich Araiza was also with the department for decades. He was chief when it merged into the Ventura County Fire Department in 2018.
"This was a family. We would do traditions, holidays here with families," said Araiza. I saw many a young boy become a firefighter. This is a little bittersweet."
Even before Ventura County started handling fire protection for Santa Paula, the city had long outgrown the fire station.
"It's tiny. When it was built, fire truckers were under seven feet wide. Now, they're more than seven feet wide," said Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner. He said the new facility is badly needed.
"They're (the new trucks) are tall, they're long, they're heavy, and our new engines barely fit," said Gardner. "And our new ladder trucks don't fit."
The chief talks about the new 13,000 square foot, two story building which will be built on the site. He says it will be built in a way to fit in when downtown Santa Paula’s historic architecture. There will also be a small fire department museum.
"It's going to allow a new, and safe fire station for my firefighters," said Gardner. "It's going to be a combination of old, and new. It's going to look like an old fire station, but it's going to have all of the modern amenities."
Santa Paula City Councilman Andy Sobel says there’s a lot of excitement about the new fire station:
"A lot of people love this station because it's historic, and goes back a long time, but once the renderings came out, and people saw how beautiful it was, the realized we would get upgraded, stellar service."
The chief says the new fire station will cost about $14 million dollars. Construction is expected to take about two years. It will include seven dorm rooms, as well as a quarters for a battalion chief.
The existing station has been temporarily relocated a few blocks away, to Main Street, while the new fire station is being built.
