Fire fighters readying for new station
Deepa Bharath
NEWPORT COAST -- The Newport Beach Fire Department will set up shop in
its newly named Fire Station 8 on Tuesday when annexation of Newport
Coast becomes official.
Firefighters will take over the building, at 6502 Ridge Park Road,
which was previously owned by the Orange County Fire Authority that
served community residents.
The station will be manned by a captain, a fire engineer and a
paramedic.
The department has spent the last year preparing for this day, said
Chief Tim Riley.
“We’ve had several new hires and a number of promotions,” he said.
“But still we’re going to be short-handed and will have to count on
overtime the month of January because a lot of the new people won’t come
in till the end of the month.”
Complex political issues surrounding the annexation also made it
difficult for the Fire Department to plan ahead of time, Riley said.
“We only had 28 days after the annexation was formalized,” he said.
“But our people still went ahead and got it done.”
The City Council also had to consider rewritten mutual-aid agreements
with the Orange County Fire Authority and Laguna Niguel. The council has
approved the agreement with the Fire Authority and is expected to approve
the agreement with Laguna Niguel in January.
Riley said the department will focus the first year mostly on
assessing the needs of the community.
“We need to get familiar with the fire protection and emergency
services issues in the area,” he said.
An interesting challenge, he said, is the fact that firefighters will
have to cover a large area with a small population that is well spread
out as opposed to Newport Beach, which is relatively more tightly packed.
“That could mean travel times are longer,” Riley said.
He added he does not expect the nature of services to be largely
different.
“The only difference is from the wildland perspective,” he said. “We
have little experience in that area and will need to get familiar.”
The agreement with Laguna Niguel, that has more experience fighting
brush fires, will help, Riley said.
He said the department will also consider buying an off-road vehicle
to deal with fire or rescue situations that crop up in the hilly areas.
* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at
(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .
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