Safety concerns prompted the city of Encinitas to relocate firefighters from the city’s oldest fire station to a station about 1.5 miles away.
Built in the 1950s, Encinitas Fire Station 1 is older than the city it serves. Encinitas wasn’t incorporated until 1986.
"It was a county firefighting facility and it has been in use ever since," Encinitas Mayor Tony Kranz said.
The station was built with unreinforced masonry, making it prone to collapse in an earthquake. The recent swarms of earthquakes in Los Angeles County raised concerns about its safety.
"The conversation got started about the way this building was constructed," he said. "And we had a building inspector come do a report and it became time to take action."
The building was deemed unsafe due to a structural deficiency, so earlier this month, Station 1 firefighters were moved to Station 3.
Encinitas Fire Department Chief Josh Gordan said it would delay response time, but it's still within the department's standard of eight and a half minutes. He said the typical response time is within six minutes.
"We’re still getting to our emergencies within that response time that we’ve adopted," he said. "But it is going to take, you know, a minute longer."
The department is working to reduce response time as much as possible and is looking into how the move affects response time in the downtown area.
Kranz said the bottom line is the first responder's safety.
"We asked them to risk their lives to save others. And I just don't think it's appropriate that firefighters should be in a building that may fall down on their head," he said.
As for what to do with the building, he said a number of alternatives are being presented at next month’s city council meeting, including tearing it down for a new building.
