Judge Won’t Block Plan to Close Fire Station : Courts: Ventura Avenue facility will shut down Thursday as scheduled, but fight over its future will continue.

A Superior Court judge Friday refused to block next week’s planned closure of the Ventura Avenue Fire Station, saying opponents of the move had failed to show it would result in irreparable harm either to firefighters or the public.

The ruling by Judge John J. Hunter means the station will close Thursday as scheduled, officials said, but the legal battle over the future of the nine-member firehouse will continue.

The Ventura County firefighters’ union, which filed the last-minute lawsuit to block the closure, contends the move leaves residents who have been protected by the firehouse in jeopardy because it will take longer for other stations to respond to emergencies there.

Although firefighters assigned to the station at 5777 N. Ventura Ave. will not lose their jobs, the union says closing the firehouse will make working conditions worse for all firefighters because there may be fewer on duty at any one time.

Hunter said such arguments are not enough.

“You’re going to have to make a better showing than that,” the judge told the union’s attorney, Stephen Silver. “You have to show irreparable harm, not just the normal type of harm. Firefighters are subject to serious bodily injury every time they leave the Fire Department.”

Earlier this year, the county Board of Supervisors approved closing the fire station as one of many budget-cutting measures. Officials estimate the closure will save $650,000 a year, money that otherwise would have to come from a contingency fund set aside for emergencies, such as extensive brush fires.

Assistant County Counsel Dennis Slivinski, who represented the county and its fire protection district in court, said after the hearing that the real issue is “who is in charge of the fire district.”

“We don’t think it’s right, legally or morally, for the firefighters or the courts to second-guess the board,” Slivinski said. “Our position is, this is a management determination. . . . The board is the manager, and this is a job for the manager to do.”

Slivinski said it costs $13,200 a week to keep the station open, and within a year the contingency fund would drop to $151,800, creating a “hazardous risk to the community” in case of emergency.

Although Hunter denied the union’s request for a temporary restraining order--a short-term emergency action that would take effect immediately if granted--he did not rule on the merits of the lawsuit, which argues among other things that the station closure violates the union’s contract with the county by changing the firefighters’ working conditions.

A hearing is scheduled July 29 to allow the union to seek an injunction against the county until there is a ruling on the lawsuit’s merits. If Hunter issues the injunction the county would be forced to reopen the station, but the union’s attorney said he is not optimistic he will win at that stage of the proceedings.

Speaking outside court on the safety issue, which will be the basis of the July 29 hearing, Silver said Hunter “didn’t seem to appreciate how serious or how important it is to have every possible person available” to fight fires.

“Each person counts,” Silver said. “If you’ve ever been to a fire . . . you know the more backup you have, the safer it is.”

Union President Ken Maffei said after the hearing that it is financially unnecessary to close the station because firefighters agreed to defer a scheduled pay raise if a majority of county managers earning more than $60,000 a year agreed to give up half of their longevity bonuses for the coming year.

County Personnel Director Ronald W. Komers said Friday that the union’s pay offer was “totally inappropriate” and could not legally be accepted by supervisors.