East White Lane Fire Station
Bakersfield, California

Photo by Casey Christie.

Hot, new digs for firefighters
City crew could be taking calls in southeast station earlier than expected

BY JAMES GELUSO, Californian staff writer
Last Updated: Thursday, Jan 3 2008 9:20 PM

When construction began last March, Bakersfield’s newest fire station was scheduled to open this April. Bakersfield Fire Chief Ron Fraze enters the new fire station on East White Lane, just east of Union Avenue. Bakersfield Fire Chief Ron Fraze, left, walks through the new Fire Station 5 apparatus bay with Robert Voyles, city construction inspector.

The new Bakersfield Fire Station 5 is still under construction at East White Lane, east of South Union Avenue. But things turned out a little better than expected, and firefighters could be answering calls from their new digs by mid-February. “It came in right on budget and came in a little bit early,” Bakersfield Fire Chief Ron Fraze said. The new $3.9 million station will replace current Fire Station 5, which is more than 50 years old and just not big enough for modern fire trucks, Fraze said. The new station will be big enough to accommodate just about anything. “If it can go under a bridge in California, it can fit in our bays,” he said. And the new station has pull-through bays, so fire engines won’t have to back into the station. Fraze said 90 percent of traffic accidents with fire department vehicles involve backing in.

The department also aims to cut response times from the new station, which will be on East White Lane just east of South Union Avenue. The current station is on Planz Road, just a few blocks from where the street dead-ends, cut off by the Bakersfield Municipal Airport’s runway. The new spot will make it easier to get around the airport. Fraze said he expects to do a walkthrough on Tuesday, and hopes to give final approval to the station by the end of the month. It will take about a week to move the fire crews and all their equipment to the new station while still answering calls, Fraze said. And the station will likely get a grand opening in February, he said. Fraze doesn’t know what will happen to the old station. Sometimes old stations are kept as city assets; other times they are sold. One old station became a restaurant, and another was turned into a masonry workshop, he said. The fire station will also include a satellite police station, adding to the police presence in southeast Bakersfield.