Goodby, Station 24 : Somber Firefighters Pack Up as Facility Closes After Six Decades

As a young boy growing up on Ventura Avenue, Paul Ramonette once sparked a fire in his back yard. Within minutes, county firefighters from Station 24 arrived, doused the flames and gave the boy a stern lecture.

“A big captain with a great big red hat leaned over nose-to-nose with me and scared me to death,” he recalled.

On Thursday, Ramonette, now 46 and a county battalion chief, stood by as the fire station he grew up with was shut down.

Station 24, which has served the unincorporated area between Ventura and Oak View since the 1930s, was closed, a victim of county budget cuts. The firefighters union has filed a lawsuit to keep the station open.

During a brief ceremony in front of the station Thursday morning, the flag was lowered, the crew handed the keys over to the battalion chief and the station made its final radio broadcast at 8:22 a.m.

About 30 residents and firefighters, both active and retired, turned out for the occasion.

“It’s a pretty emotional thing when you know this community’s been served by the county of Ventura for over 60 years,” said Fire Capt. Norman Plott, who presided over the station’s last 24-hour shift.

The area covered by Station 24 will fall to the city of Ventura’s station at 717 Ventura Ave. The county will pay the city about $75,000 a year to handle the extra calls, which range from crashes on California 33 to brush fires and oil field accidents.

“We are not one of the busiest stations, but we are not the slowest,” said Chris Mahon, an engineer with Station 24 who is active in the firefighters union. “We are like a utility player; we respond all over the place.”

Station 24 has averaged 150 primary-response calls in recent years. The city’s station handles an average of 1,700 calls a year, said Ken Hess, assistant chief with the Ventura Fire Department.

The nine county firefighters who worked at Station 24 will be redeployed to fill in for firefighters on vacation.

“We call it ‘suitcasing’ because each day you go to a different station,” said Mahon, who will be assigned to Thousand Oaks for his next three-day shift.

Robert Shimer, 72, one of two residents who helped hang a yellow ribbon on the station front, said he will miss having firefighters about a mile from his doorstep.

Three years ago, Shimer said, a tree he was chopping fell and pinned him. Within minutes, firefighters from Station 24 arrived, rescued Shimer, and gave him first aid for a fractured pelvis and bruised hip.

“Something like that kind of makes you feel a personal interest,” he said.

No. 24 was the only station closed in the county despite predictions that the department would face cuts of up to $20 million and be forced to shut down 18 of 32 stations.

Nevertheless, the closing has sparked resentment from residents and firefighters toward the county.

“I think the closure of Station 24 calls into question the integrity, competence and motives of all of those responsible for the closure,” said Fire Capt. Keith Kraetsch, who was assigned to the station for 13 years.

Deputy Fire Chief Robert Holoway attended Thursday’s ceremony, representing Fire Chief George Lund, who was ill. Holoway did not speak during the ceremony and later declined to discuss details of the closing because of the union’s pending lawsuit. But he said the department is studying what to do with the building.

On July 16, a Ventura County Superior Court judge refused to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the station’s closing. A hearing is scheduled Thursday to allow the union to seek an injunction to keep the station open until there is a ruling on the lawsuit’s merits.

After the crowd dispersed Thursday, the real work of closing the building began. A locksmith came to change the locks. County fire workers began unbolting the signs in front. And in back, a picnic table and barbecue grill were carried inside.

In the midst of it all, two final customers pulled into the station driveway. Bob Love and Joy Webster of Bakersfield were looking for directions to a friend’s house.

After learning that the station had closed just two hours before, Webster, who had once lived in the area, was disappointed.

“This fire station’s been here forever,” she said. “It’s a landmark, and landmarks are hard to come by.”