Long Beach fire crews moved out of Fire Station 9 in the Los Cerritos area in June, and the station closed its doors due to mold.
[Editor’s note: The Signal Tribune newspaper is expecting a phone call from 6th District Councilmember Al Austin to discuss Fire Station 9’s closing, and it will update the article accordingly.]
Fire crews from Fire station 9, located on 3917 Long Beach Blvd., officially left the Los Cerritos station last month, leaving some residents concerned about how the closure will impact emergency response times. The discovery of mold and the buildings relatively small size prompted the closing, according to city officials.
According to the Long Beach Fire Department, station 9 closing down will cause an increase to response times for emergency calls.
During the Aug. 13 Long Beach City Council meeting Xavier Espino, Long Beach Fire Department chief, updated the council about achievements the department had completed for Fiscal Year 2019, and the challenges it faces in the near future.
Following Espino’s presentation, 6th District Councilmember Al Austin asked about a status update on station 9.
“We’ve met with public works, with health [and] city management, and we’ve determined that we’re at an all stop right now on any further work on station 9 at this point and time,” Espino said.
An emailed statement from the fire department on Aug. 20 stated that Rescue 9 paramedic unit has temporarily relocated to Station 13 located at 2475 Adriatic Ave.– approximately four miles away– and Fire Engine 9 and its personnel have temporarily relocated to Station 16 located at 2890 E. Wardlow Rd.– about three miles away.
Fire crews that were previously stationed at Fire Station 9 have been ordered to patrol the community during the day where the station is located.
“Having both those units out of place has increased response times,” Espino said. “They do patrol during the day. They stay in the engine 9 area.”
Before Measure A, the city did not have a dedicated source of revenue that could be used to invest in preventative measures for infrastructure maintenance, Long Beach Public Information Officer Kevin Lee said.
Tom Modica, Long Beach assistant city manager, said the Fire Station 9 had extensive infrastructure challenges, which prompted the building’s closure.
“We have had major infrastructure challenges at that facility,” Modica said during the Aug. 13 council meeting. “That is one of our older fire facilities, and we were having safety issues and we investigated them, and eventually got to the point; because we’ve not been able to invest the infrastructure dollars that we’ve needed to over many many years then we had to shut it down.”
The Signal Tribune contacted Austin’s office for comments concerning the station’s closure and increased emergency response times but did not receive a response within press time.
During the meeting, Austin and Espino mentioned that the ultimate goal would be to find a new location for Fire Station 9.
As of press time, city officials have not identified a property that would suit the needs of a new fire station.
The first responsibility of any city government is to protect its residents. At the top of the ladder of responsibility is police and fire protection. In this case it will also include paramedic response.
By closing Station #9 old and young alike have lost precious minutes on which they depend on for surviving or succumbing to injury and illness. The magic hour of a stroke victim has now diminished by critical ticks of the clock.
A lesser cause of concern, but must be considered, is a rise in home insurance premiums which are partially based on local availability of fire protection services.
It is important and crucial that we insist on getting our Station #9 back into active operation.
I am very concerned . This is the closest station to countless residents, SCHOOLS and businesses. Two if those schools house some of the largest student body enrollments in LBUSD! What is the plan?!
This issue needs to be the focus of our councilman. We should not wait until the sales tax extension passes to budget for a replacement
I believe our councilman should vote against every frivolous request for funds, such as new furniture for the new city hall, until we again have a fjre station in our neighborhood.
This graphic was forwarded to me from Nextdoor regarding the closure (https://nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=121571246). As J. Jackson commented above, the increased response time from the other stations is alarming. Seconds count. As to the crews being on patrol, that’s not very comforting. They can’t be suited up riding around in an apparatus all day and night, that’s kind of silly. Also extremely concerning is the lack of transparency by Councilman Austin and the lack of communication with the community.