Palo Cedro new hub for Shasta County Fire
By Sharyn Cornelius
The Shasta County Fire Department and CAL FIRE on Jan. 24, 2010 held an open house at Palo Cedro’s Station 32, which has recently received numerous additions and enhancements befitting its new role as the hub of county fire services. At the open house, professional and volunteer firefighters enjoyed showing off the new facilities to Supervisors Glenn Hawes and Linda Hartman and County Administrative Officer Larry Lees.
Built by the volunteer firefighters on county property in the 1970s, Station 32’s facilities originally consisted of the main firehouse, containing three engine bays and a meeting room with a small kitchen, plus a small, detached garage used for storage. Over the years, the volunteers added a fourth parking bay to the south side of the firehouse and then constructed a new steel building to house two more engines on the north side of the property.
Over the past twelve months, however, building activity at the site has rapidly accelerated, with barracks to house fulltime paid firefighters constructed last summer and a large steel building to house the county’s self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) maintenance and testing center replacing the old garage. The new building also houses the Mobile Breathing Support System vehicle which responds to all structure fires on the east side of the valley. The total cost for improvements to Station 32 is $376,716.
As the new center of the Shasta County Fire Department, Station 32 is home to its only staffed fire engine. Moved from the CAL FIRE station at the Redding Airport last August and manned by CAL FIRE personnel, the Schedule A engine responds to all emergency calls in the Palo Cedro response area and provides automatic or mutual aid to all eastside fire companies.
Firefighter Jake Tomsich gave us a tour of the barracks, which contains a radio room, three bedrooms with two beds each, a kitchen, living room and two baths. He said one of the next improvements to the station will be the addition of base radios in all of the buildings.
When we asked Company 32’s Fire Chief Frank DeNatale how the volunteers had responded to having paid firefighters responding with them on all their calls, he said that the relationship had “started out rocky,” but was now working out well. He added that some of the volunteers were even electing to spend the night in the barracks, so they could ride along with the professional firefighters to gain additional experience.
Fire Captain Glenn Hastings said “It’s a real advantage to have them here. It’s good for our community and good for us. I like being back-up for them. And they are a real asset to us in terms of station maintenance, too.”
Firefighter James Golden added that he appreciated the extra training the ,personnel provided to the volunteers. “They are very eager to pass on their knowledge to us,” he said, “and we are eager to receive it.”
Source: http://eastvalleytimes.com Article Link
Photo by Mike Brown: Supervisors Linda Hartman and Glenn Hawes pose for a photo with fi refi ghters from the PaloCedro Volunteer Fire Company and Cal Fire during the open house on Feb. 24, 2010 at Station 32, which is now home to the only Schedule A manned engine in Shasta County.
The Shasta County Fire Department and CAL FIRE on Jan. 24, 2010 held an open house at Palo Cedro’s Station 32, which has recently received numerous additions and enhancements befitting its new role as the hub of county fire services. At the open house, professional and volunteer firefighters enjoyed showing off the new facilities to Supervisors Glenn Hawes and Linda Hartman and County Administrative Officer Larry Lees.
Built by the volunteer firefighters on county property in the 1970s, Station 32’s facilities originally consisted of the main firehouse, containing three engine bays and a meeting room with a small kitchen, plus a small, detached garage used for storage. Over the years, the volunteers added a fourth parking bay to the south side of the firehouse and then constructed a new steel building to house two more engines on the north side of the property.
Over the past twelve months, however, building activity at the site has rapidly accelerated, with barracks to house fulltime paid firefighters constructed last summer and a large steel building to house the county’s self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) maintenance and testing center replacing the old garage. The new building also houses the Mobile Breathing Support System vehicle which responds to all structure fires on the east side of the valley. The total cost for improvements to Station 32 is $376,716.
As the new center of the Shasta County Fire Department, Station 32 is home to its only staffed fire engine. Moved from the CAL FIRE station at the Redding Airport last August and manned by CAL FIRE personnel, the Schedule A engine responds to all emergency calls in the Palo Cedro response area and provides automatic or mutual aid to all eastside fire companies.
Firefighter Jake Tomsich gave us a tour of the barracks, which contains a radio room, three bedrooms with two beds each, a kitchen, living room and two baths. He said one of the next improvements to the station will be the addition of base radios in all of the buildings.
When we asked Company 32’s Fire Chief Frank DeNatale how the volunteers had responded to having paid firefighters responding with them on all their calls, he said that the relationship had “started out rocky,” but was now working out well. He added that some of the volunteers were even electing to spend the night in the barracks, so they could ride along with the professional firefighters to gain additional experience.
Fire Captain Glenn Hastings said “It’s a real advantage to have them here. It’s good for our community and good for us. I like being back-up for them. And they are a real asset to us in terms of station maintenance, too.”
Firefighter James Golden added that he appreciated the extra training the ,personnel provided to the volunteers. “They are very eager to pass on their knowledge to us,” he said, “and we are eager to receive it.”
Source: http://eastvalleytimes.com Article Link
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