PASADENA : Fire Department’s Lack of Permit for Station Violates Law

A city agency responsible for inspecting businesses and homes for health and safety code violations is itself in violation of the city’s housing laws.

City records show that the Fire Department violated housing codes by not applying for the special permit needed to operate a temporary fire station on East Del Mar Boulevard. The previous permit expired in mid-1991 but the department is only now making plans to apply for a new one, despite numerous warnings from city planners.

Station 34 moved to its temporary quarters in 1989 after its aging building was closed because of seismic defects.

Fire Chief Kaya Pekerol, who was suspended by City Manager Phil Hawkey over unspecified performance issues in November, said he was unaware that the permit had expired and that a new one was needed. Pekerol is scheduled to return to work Jan. 9.

Alex Khoury, a senior planner for the city who oversees the issuance of conditional-use permits, said the Fire Department never received any written warnings from his office for being out of compliance with city housing code requirements.

However, Khoury said, Fire Department officials had been warned orally several times over the last three years that the conditional-use permit had expired. The warnings were ignored, Khoury said.

“If this was a private enterprise that wanted these variances, I’m sure (city officials) wouldn’t just let it slide for three years,” said Don Wilden, whose property management company represents a condominium complex across the street from Station 34.

Opponents of a new permit are already lining up.

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“I don’t think (the permit) should be renewed,” said Danny Comerford, who has lived in the complex since 1981. “They promised us this was going to be a temporary location. They certainly haven’t shown any good faith in letting this permit expire and just ignoring us.”

In 1989, Fire Department officials decided to close the old Station 34 on Oak Knoll Avenue. The unreinforced masonry building, built in 1917, sustained major structural damage from the Whittier Narrows earthquake two years earlier and was deemed unsafe.

But city documents show that Fire Department officials knew as early as 1983 that the old firehouse was seismically unsafe. A memo from department analyst Diane Johnson to Pekerol outlined the problem.

But Pekerol said there is no evidence to indicate Station 34 was unsafe in 1983.

“The minute I had an inkling it was unsafe, we got out of it,” Pekerol said. “We wouldn’t be leaving people in a building that was unsafe.”

While fire officials searched for a new station to cover the southeast portion of the city, they applied for a special permit to place a temporary fire station at 1138 E. Del Mar Blvd. Temporary trailers were installed, as was a temporary garage for firetrucks and ambulances.

Part of the original special permit required the Fire Department to place a flashing yellow light near the station so that traffic along busy Del Mar Boulevard would slow down as firetrucks left the station. The permit also prohibited firefighters from using sirens and horns within 200 feet of the station.

Wilden said residents of the condo complex across the street complain that the permit’s noise condition is rarely observed. The flashing yellow light was not installed until earlier this year.

City officials had hoped that neighboring Caltech would allow construction of a fire station either on or near the campus. In fact, provisions for a fire station were included in the school’s master plan, a blueprint for campus development over the next 25 years. But school officials did not agree to allow a permanent fire station to be built on school property.

Caltech owns the property where the temporary Station 34 was set up and leases it to the city for $1 a year.

Since 1990, the Fire Department has built two stations, one in Old Pasadena on South Fair Oaks Avenue, the other in the city’s northwest area, at Hammond Street and North Fair Oaks Avenue. The cost of the two stations was more than $4 million.

Johnson, the department analyst, said there are no immediate plans--and no funds available--to build a new Station 34. Johnson said Fire Department and city planning officials are working out the details for a new permit. The Fire Department will apply for it this month, she said.

“We’re just trying to get with the program,” Johnson said. “We’re busy trying to put out fires, even in the administration office.”