Fire station may move

Costa Mesa officials will consider relocating one of the city’s six fire stations to better serve future development, but a seventh station probably won’t be needed, City Manager Allan Roeder said.

Fire Station 1 on Adams Avenue at Royal Palm Drive is one of the city’s oldest existing stations, probably built in the late 1950s or early 1960s. It’s due for replacement, but a recent study showed a station in a slightly different spot might better serve the area, Costa Mesa Fire Chief Steven Parker said. It’s too expensive and probably unnecessary to build both, Roeder said.

Proposed office, industrial and residential developments that haven’t yet been built will increase the need for fire department services in the Home Ranch area, near the IKEA store. The question is where to put the station.

The ideal spot for city officials is somewhere along Harbor Boulevard between Baker Street and the San Diego (405) Freeway, Roeder said. The study considered three sites, but no land is available near the preferred site at Harbor and Baker; a Susan Street plot promised to the city in a development agreement is too far north, and a site on Gisler Avenue won’t work because the street dead-ends, he said.

Response times are not expected to change if the station is relocated.

Roeder said the study raised the possibility of adding more paramedic units, an idea officials will want to consider seriously. They may look at adding a medic-only unit at the relocated station 1 and another at the downtown station.

“Our fire calls tend to be decreasing over time as building technology improves and we get more buildings with sprinklers,” Roeder said. “We’re doing far more in the way of medical aid responses than we are fire suppression.”

Parker stressed that city leaders aren’t making final decisions yet on the future of station 1.

“This is advance planning because within a number of years something needs to be done to provide coverage as that area develops out,” he said.

The City Council will discuss fire station issues at a study session Tuesday.

NUMBERS BREAKDOWN

Costa Mesa’s six fire stations serve the city’s roughly 110,000 residents. Here’s some data on how and what they’re doing, according to a recent study commissioned by the city: