STOCKTON, Calif. — The sound of sirens from rushing fire engines and the sight of red and white flashing lights will soon return to the 1800 block of Fresno Avenue in Stockton after the city council voted to approve purchasing a new fire engine and staff a soon-to-be re-opened shuttered south Stockton station.
Facing budget issues ahead of the city's bankruptcy in 2012, the Stockton Fire Department closed down Fire Station One, which served parts of south Stockton, downtown and the Port of Stockton.
"It's been shuttered for the better part of 11 years and basically the lights and the water and electricity were just turned off," Rick Edwards, Chief of the Stockton Fire Department, said.
When the city closed Fire Station One, which sits on the corner of Fresno Avenue and La Vita Drive, response times to fire calls went up, Edwards says.
During medical or fire emergencies following the closing, residents in the neighborhoods surrounding the fire station were forced to rely on delayed crews from either the city's downtown Fire Station Two, Weston Ranch Fire Station Five or out-of-city fire agencies.
The increased strain on those two fire stations also contributed to response times across the city increasing, fire officials say.
"It'll alleviate all the surrounding companies," Edwards said. "So they'll focus more on their own districts and they won't be drawn into this district as frequently."
Stockton's City Council voted Tuesday to approve the purchase of a new fire engine to be devoted to the station. While funding has been approved, Edwards says the city still has work to do before the station opens up.
"We're optimistic that we'll have it open hopefully by the end of the third quarter or beginning of the fourth quarter of this year," Edwards said. "We're really at the mercy of supply chain issues and so trying to get construction equipment, materials and supplies do seem to be our biggest limiting factors right now."
Some of those $387,000 in renovations and repairs to the firehouse will include replacing windows, upgrading HVAC and electrical systems, updating IT infrastructure, remodeling the kitchen, replacing flooring, repainting, updating landscaping and adding fencing.
When all the work is complete, Chief Edwards hopes the re-opening will have a lasting impact on the city and allow his agency to help people in need, faster.
"This is going to be a huge addition to our fire protection services and our ability to provide additional services, it'll reduce the response times for emergencies," Edwards said. "We're excited and we are going to have an official re-opening of the firehouse when the day gets closer."
