By John F. Hill
The Press Enterprise
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Construction will begin soon on a new fire station in Temecula Wine Country despite a proposal to close several stations in unincorporated areas of Riverside County.
The new Glen Oaks station will replace the two small trailers being used as a temporary station that opened in 2008. Three firefighters, including at least one paramedic, are stationed there 24 hours a day, said Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department Capt. Rich Gonzalez.
Station 96, as it is known, is among the rolling hills east of Temecula.
The project comes at a time when Fire Chief John Hawkins has proposed shutting down other stations in unincorporated parts of the county to close a $4.3 million budget gap. County supervisors balked at that option two weeks ago, delaying a vote on the plan for 30 days while they consider other ways to save money.
The new station will be built for $4.7 million, according to the Riverside County Economic Development Agency. The county will use development impact fees - the money contractors must pay the government to offset the public costs of their projects - to pay for the construction.
Fire Department spokesman Mike Smith said those developer fees can’t be used to plug the department’s budget gap.
“If we don’t utilize those monies, we have to return them back to the developers,” he said.
And if the county is going to build a new station, Smith said, it is better off doing so now when the economy is down and costs are low.
Gonzalez said local fire coverage was sorely needed when the facility opened two years ago. This year, his crew was the first engine at a grass fire off Pauba Road that threatened several ranch homes. Gonzalez told emergency dispatchers that the fire, sparked by the spontaneous combustion of grass, had the potential to burn about 200 acres.
But, with a crew on the scene within minutes, the blaze was kept to about 2 acres, Gonzalez said.
The construction project was set to begin last week, but a groundbreaking ceremony was canceled because of the threat of rain. Construction will take about a year, the Economic Development Agency said.
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