Grand opening held for state-of-the-art facility
By Loreen Berlin
The City of Buena Park, in conjunction with the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA), held a grand opening and ribbon cutting of the new Fire Station No. 61, at 7440 La Palma Ave., Wednesday, July 11.
The ceremony was well-attended, with an overflowing crowd of supportive local community members and cities beyond its borders, along with City staff.
Although the City had been working toward a new fire station in the future, a fire at the former location on Western Avenue burned that facility down in January of last year, necessitating another location for the OCFA to continue service to Buena Park and surrounding cities.
A temporary location was provided by Centralia School District at the vacant Walter Knott Elementary School on La Palma Avenue. A groundbreaking for the new station was held last September.
Bill Lockhart, Division Chief with OCFA Division 7 offered these facts about the new station:
“Station No. 61, which is the Division-7 headquarters, serves the cities of Buena Park, Cypress, La Palma and Stanton,” he said. “There are three division personnel that includes a Division Chief, Division Administrative Captain and an Administrative Assistant.”
Lockhart said Area 1, the Community Risk Reduction Headquarters, has seven Fire and Prevention personnel; Truck No. 61 has four personnel per shift, with three shifts and the Urban Search and Rescue has Technical Rescue and Water Rescue. Engine No. 61 has four personnel per shift, with three shifts and Buena Park’s fire station is known as the “Night Train” because of the frequent night calls. In Battalion 8, there is one Battalion Chief per shift, with three shifts.
Mayor Virginia Vaughn welcomed those attending the celebration.
“As Mayor and a longtime resident of Buena Park, I’m so proud to be standing in this beautiful facility that now houses Fire Station No. 61 as well as the OCFA Battalion and Division 7 administration offices,” said Vaughn. “This 18,000 square-foot structure was built to be both economically and environmentally conscious, while at the same time being a state-of-the-art building that incorporates the latest in emergency communications technology.”
Vaughn noted that because of the fire in the former station, the design and construction for the new facility had to be expedited.
“With this in mind, City Council and staff worked closely and quickly with OCFA to select a pre-engineered metal for the building frame that was made with recycled steel and fabricated offsite to make framing faster and more cost-effective,” she continued.
“The collaboration and method not only saved time and money, but provided the building with a longer service-life, which will allow Fire Station No. 61 to provide service to the Buena Park community and the surrounding communities for many years to come.”
Buena Park City Councilmember Dr. Beth Swift serves on the OCFA Board and shared her thoughts as she was Chair of the OCFA Board and Mayor when the former building burned down.
“The project budget was $13 million dollars; we received $4 million in insurance money for the burned fire station,” said Swift. “That money, plus $1 million more from the City treasury was put toward the cost of building the new fire station; therefore, we financed $8 million dollars through selling bonds; the bonds will take 20 years to repay at $750,000 per year,” she said, noting that the original fire station was built in 1967. “That’s the year I graduated from high school,” she said with a smile.
Swift is a member of the Acacia Quilt Guild (AQG) and sought to have the Guild make a handmade quilt for each of the 27 firefighters, to replace the quilts that burned in the fire, which turned out to be 34 finished bed quilts, so that new firefighters will also have a brand new quilt when they come on board.
The Acacia Quilt Guild handmade 34 quilts for each firefighter to have their own new quilt, since when the former fire station burned down, everything was lost.
Sonia Das, Esq., with AQG, said the Guild has philanthropy and education as its mission.
“We were pleased to participate in a project that would benefit Buena Park and specifically the firefighters and the new firehouse. This project really energized our Guild and got many new members to participate,” said Das.
Assistant OCFA Chief Dave Anderson said the fire station is home to firefighters for 48 hours at a time, noting that they spend one third of their lives away from home, inspecting tools, training and serving those when there is a need and offering station tours.
“The firefighters eat their meals together when they’re on shift,” said Anderson. “Fire Station No. 61 is the busiest station with 7,000 emergencies a year; we care for those when in need and it’s a humbling reminder that life is important.”
Former Buena Park Fire Chief Sam Winner was on hand for the festivities, along with half a dozen former firefighters who served with Winner when Buena Park had its own fire department. Sir Anthony Zamora with Medieval Times attended the ribbon cutting ceremonies in support of the community.
“The new fire station is on schedule and under budget and ready to go; I want to thank the City for working with everyone to make it happen,” said City Manager Jim Vanderpool. “There has been continuous fire service without interruption because of the Centralia School District.”
