VENTURA : City to Reserve Funds for Fire Station Work

As part of a grant application to acquire additional state funds, the Ventura City Council on Monday agreed to set aside $32,500 to make seismic repairs on a fire station at Seaward Avenue and Main Street.

The total cost of the repairs is about $130,000, and the state would fund 75% of that if Ventura qualifies for the program, said Ken Hess, assistant fire chief.

Fire Station No. 2 was built in 1952, and its walls need reinforcing to ensure that it would withstand a major earthquake, Hess said. It is the only one of six fire stations in the city that require seismic repairs, he said.

“When the building was built, they didn’t have the earthquake knowledge they have today,” Hess said. “It would preclude us from responding to the citizens if we couldn’t get our engines out or if our own people were injured.”

The seismic work would include putting new plywood on the roof, tying the walls to the roof with steel straps and adding new supporting columns in front, Hess said. City officials will not find out until February, 1994, whether Ventura will receive state funds for the project, he said.

Hess said he did not expect the repairs would greatly disrupt the station, which serves an area of about 3.5 square miles in mid-town Ventura. The station houses three firefighters and one fire engine.