Too Close for Comfort : Camarillo: An aging and cramped fire station may be replaced with a $1.5-million facility. Crew also fears being ‘trapped’ by a quake.

An aging, cramped World War II era Camarillo fire station will be replaced by next summer if the county Board of Supervisors next week approves spending $1.5 million for a new building.

Station No. 54 on Ventura Boulevard, constructed by the Works Progress Administration in the 1940s, needs to be replaced by the county Fire Department because of the costs and difficulty of maintaining and updating the solid concrete building, fire officials said.

The district also wants to move from the old building so firefighters would not be trapped south of the Ventura Freeway if the Carmen Drive and Las Posas Road overpasses collapse during a catastrophic earthquake, Battalion Chief Robert Stone said. “A key concern of ours is that during a major earthquake we could become trapped on this side of the freeway if the overpasses were knocked down,” Stone said. “We feel that it’s important to have the station be located closer to the public we’re serving.”

Nearly all of Camarillo’s 56,000 residents live north of the freeway.

The new Spanish-style, 8,000-square-foot station on the 2100 block of Pickwick Drive would accommodate not only two fire engines and sleeping quarters but also administrative offices.

The old station houses a single crew of five or six firefighters, an engine and a rescue truck. The station’s crews went on 12,583 emergency runs in 1993, making it one of the top five busiest in the county.

The station would be financed with interest from delinquent property taxes that was earmarked for Station No. 54 by county supervisors at recent budget hearings, according to Assistant Fire Chief Bob Roper.

Budget concerns were partly responsible for the March resignation of Chief George Lund. He resigned after the supervisors denied his department a share of special law-enforcement funds-- and after it was was criticized for lax management and spending practices.

County Supervisor John K. Flynn said Thursday that although he understands the importance of building a new station, he is reluctant to support the project until the department gives supervisors a new management and budget plan.

Flynn said he has only seen draft copies of the report and is awaiting the final report.

“It just seems to me that we ought to have a strategic plan first before we approve any major expenditures,” Flynn said. “It bothers me that we don’t have a final plan. That’s a lot of money, considering the tough times we’re in.”

Fire Department officials said the strategic plan is being reviewed by new Chief James Sewell and will be finished soon. Sewell could not be reached for comment.

The Ventura Boulevard station has gone through many incarnations in its five decades, Stone said. At one point, its second story offered living quarters for the station’s captain and family.

At another time, the building was used as office space for county archivists, and at another time it was partly office space for the county public works and library systems, Stone said.

Because of the design of the building--solid concrete walls reinforced with steel bars--plumbing and other repairs are often much more difficult than in modern buildings, he said.

“All of the plumbing and electrical is from that era,” Stone said. “When our maintenance people come in for a job they often throw their hands up in frustration.”

Camarillo City Manager Bill Little said the city supports the new station.

“We think it’s a great idea,” Little said. “The existing station was totally inadequate for the department’s needs. We’re pleased to see them moving ahead with this project.”

County supervisors will consider the project Tuesday.