Below is a message from the office of Jay Schenirer in regards to the temporary Fire Station 12 closure on 24th
Hi all:
We’ve received several emails and calls regarding the Station 12 closure.
Here’s the latest from the Fire Department:
1. Fire Station 12 on 24th Street will be temporarily closed for two to three weeks for construction starting today. The asbestos tiles in the floor need to be removed and replaced. While the floor is being done, work crews are taking the opportunity to do some other much-needed repairs to the plumbing and kitchen. Also, a new keyless entry system will be installed to increase station security. For normal repairs and maintenance, the fire station would not need to be closed. However, since the contractor needs to have complete access to the station during the the asbestos removal, it requires complete closure and movement of the personnel to other stations. Several of our fire stations still need to have these old asbestos tiles removed. It is an ongoing maintenance project that the Fire department is coordinating with the City Facilities division.
2. Station 12 houses three apparatus: Engine 12, Medic 12, and EMS 22 (our EMS Captain in charge of all of the ambulances). While these station repairs are being done, Engine 12 will be moved to our City Corp Yard for some needed maintenance and repairs on the engine. Medic 12 will be moved to Station 4 on Alhambra and L Streets, and EMS 22 will move to Station 43. Medic 12 and EMS 22 will continue to operate normally; however since Engine 12 is being repaired, the crews from Engine 12 will be used to staff other vacancies in the department as they arise.
3. Fire and ambulance services for the neighborhood that is served by Station 12 will be covered by several stations and apparatus. To the north are Engine and Truck 5, to the east are Engine, Truck, and Medic 6, to the south are Engine and Medic 56, and to the west are Engine 13. Although response times may increase by 1 to 2 minutes, citizens should not worry that they are not covered. A similar situation arises each and every day in our city and our system of mutual coverage works fine. For example, if Engine and Medic 12 are already on a call for a heart attack or a vehicle accident (to use a couple of examples), and another call for service comes in within Station 12’s district, the closest Engine and Ambulance are automatically and quickly dispatched to the new call. Citizens likely do not notice the difference. In a busy fire department like ours, this is the way we function multiples times every day, with Engines, Trucks, and Ambulances moving to different neighborhoods to provide adequate coverage.
4. I would like to apologize on behalf of the Fire Department, and I would like to personally apologize for not getting this information out to our Councilmember, his staff, and the affected neighborhoods in a timely matter. As the Public Information Officer for our department, it is my job to ensure that this type of station closure is known about well in advance. In this particular case, the work was scheduled very quickly, but that is no excuse. I will ensure that in the future, this type of notification is done sooner.
5. Attached please find some photos I took this morning of Station 12. As you can see, all of the furniture has been moved to the apparatus bay and the floors are getting ready to come up.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Chris Harvey
charvey@sfd.cityofsacramento.org
