Fire Station at Chatsworth Lake Wins a Reprieve

Residents of Chatsworth Lake won a battle Tuesday when county supervisors approved a budget that includes funds to keep open a fire station serving their remote area.

The Board of Supervisors earmarked up to $1 million in the county’s record $11.9-billion budget to keep the station operating in the rugged mountain community west of Chatsworth.

The station serves 51 homes but also covers a wide expanse of brush area. Earlier this year, Chatsworth Lake residents reacted angrily when budget makers proposed closing the station and turning over coverage of the area to nearby Los Angeles city fire stations.

Residents protested to supervisors, saying the station was an integral defense point against brush fires. The residents, some who lost homes to a brush fire in 1967, said firefighters responding from city stations two to four miles away would take too long to save houses in Chatsworth Lake.

On Tuesday, all seemed well--after the supervisors voted to keep the station open for at least a year.

“This is fantastic,” said Frank Mejerski, a member of the Chatsworth Lake Citizens Committee. “I can say for all of us we are relieved. We are in an extreme fire hazard area and our local fire station is very important to us.

“The local firefighters are very familiar with our area, our streets, and the station itself is the only visible sign of government authority in our community. We need it.”

Resident Margaret Foreman said she made a batch of brownies after the vote Tuesday and took them to the firefighters at Station 75 on Lake Manor Drive.

“I am thrilled to death,” said Foreman, who lost her house in the 1967 fire. “I am sitting here looking at those dry hills and it can’t help but make me feel grateful for what the supervisors did. It is money well spent.”

Other programs in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys approved in the county budget:

* Officials said the budget includes $450,000 to open and staff a new sheriff’s substation in Palmdale and $300,000 to add a second sheriff’s patrol unit to the Castaic area.

* Also, the budget earmarked $3.9 million to extend a boot camp-style program for prisoners at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic. The Regimented Inmate Diversion Program combines strict military-style discipline with education and job training. Prisoners who successfully complete the three-month program become eligible for early release on probation.

* Another $3.4 million in the budget will continue the phased opening of the Challenger Memorial Center, a camp for juvenile offenders in Lancaster.

Among the proposals that were considered earlier this year but not included in the final budget was a plan to begin a $3-million expansion of the delivery wing at Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar.

Also postponed was a $1-million program to accommodate a growing number of visitors to the Pitchess Honor Rancho.

Budget trims will also result in a three-month delay in the opening of the Lost Hills sheriff’s station in Agoura. The station was scheduled to open Oct. 1, but the delay was approved to save money on staffing and operations. The sheriff’s Malibu station now handles calls to that area, which includes Calabasas.