Salinas Fire Station 1 relocation journey during renovations
SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) -- While Fire Station 1 in Salinas is getting a makeover, Fire personnel and engines have been stationed at Sherwood Hall since January.
"As part of that process and the ARPA funding, American Rescue Plan Act funding, we undertook a major renovation of fire station 1 that necessitated the crews moving out for some time," says Sam Klemek, Fire Chief.
According to the city of Salinas, Fire Station 1 is one of the busiest stations in Salinas, responding to about 30% of the calls across the city in 2024.
Chielf Klemek says response time has been slightly impacted given the increase in manual operations
"We've only seen about a minute or two increase in our response times just because of the nature of the way sherwood hall is set up and just the logistics of having to lock gates, unlock gates, move equipment, lock them behind you. It's a very manual operation that takes a little extra time," says Klemek.
Other challenges? Converting this community center into a makeshift fire station.
"With temporary facilities to house a dozen people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, was the biggest challenge. We had to look at the major operation that goes on at station one. It houses not only an engine company, a fire engine company but our truck company, our chief, our mechanics program, our hazardous materials program. There's a lot that goes at Fire Station One that had to be logistically divided," says Klemek.
"As incidents are occurring, you can look at that here. You can see all the temporary wiring that was placed in here for the alert system to let us know when calls are coming in and to monitor 911."
"That's their sleeping. Each of the dorms have the alerting system, so if the engine company's getting toned out, it's not waking the truck company up, vice versa," says Paul Fenwick, Batalian Chief.
Around a dozen people are here 24 hours a day. Fenwick says overall operations here have run smoothly since January, but is counting down the days until they can work out of the newly renovated station 1.
Chief Klemek says they hope to go back by July of this year.
