Camarillo Airport Panel Backs Firefighter Facility

The Camarillo Airport Authority has approved a conceptual plan calling for a new county firefighter rescue and training facility to be built at the airport.

The plan was passed 3 to 0 at a meeting on Thursday by board members David M. Smith, a Camarillo City Council member, Jim Hickerson, a Camarillo resident, and County Supervisor Vicky Howard, an alternate board member.

Three regular members of the five-member board--Supervisors John Flynn and Maggie Erickson Kildee, and Camarillo City Councilman Michael Morgan--were absent.

Although board members approved the plan in concept, they asked that the facility be placed in another part of the airport rather than the proposed site, Marshall MacKinen, Ventura County airports administrator, said.

MacKinen said he would look into finding another site, but he acknowledged that developers have not been “beating down the door” to build at the presently unused site.

“This Fire Department proposal is the best thing that’s come along,” MacKinen said.

The plan calls for a facility that would house the County Fire Department headquarters, store supplies and include a maintenance area. It would also include training areas for hazardous materials cleanup, aircraft rescue and firefighting, he said.