NORTHRIDGE : New Firehouse No. 28 Is 1st on the Scene

Firefighter Larry Schneider calls the new fire station at Porter Ranch “beautiful.” It has a panoramic view of the valley, and it’s flanked by golden hillsides.

All that the $1.8-million building lacks, he said, are firetrucks.

“Today, all we heard was the wind howling,” said Schneider, a battalion chief for the Los Angeles Fire Department. He is one of just three people assigned this week to the new Fire Station No. 28.

The station at 11641 Corbin Ave. was built to serve new subdivisions planned as part of the Porter Ranch development, said Chief Randy Wallace. But the recession has slowed construction and the fire station, designed for a dozen firefighters, a ladder truck and two pumpers, now sits on a dead-end road surrounded by empty hillsides.

Rather than leave the new building sitting empty and vulnerable to vandalism, fire officials decided to staff it with Schneider, his assistant and an emergency medical services captain, all transferred from a station in Northridge.

They’ll be checking out fire calls in the area by car. Firetrucks will be dispatched from other nearby stations.

Eventually, when there are enough houses in the area, more crew members and a truck will join the lonely threesome.

The new station, completed with fees charged to the Porter Ranch developers, wears the same number as historic Fire Station No. 28, which is now a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.

Wallace said the designation of the station as historic No. 28 is mere coincidence.

Landmark Fire Station No. 28 on Figueroa Street downtown was taken out of service in 1969 and eventually bought and converted into a restaurant.

“When we retire a fire station, we don’t retire the number,” Wallace said. “In sports they do; in fire stations we don’t.”

But although the department’s numbering system may be unsentimental, not so its firefighters.

Schneider said he and many of his colleagues prefer older stations to new ones.

“The new fire station doesn’t take the place of the old, as nice as it is,” he said. “The older stations grow on firemen. It’s like old, Victorian homes--people love them, they take on a certain personality.”

Some even became famous, like No. 28,” he added. “That number lingers. We are happy to be redesignated 28.”