Interim Fire Facility Makes Sense

The City Council’s Public Safety Committee is doing what it can to shore up the Fire Department’s helicopter operations center at Van Nuys Airport, given the defeat of Proposition 1. The committee is recommending that the city spend $2.9 million--far less than the $41 million requested in the bond measure for the center--to build an interim facility in a less cramped location and staff it with its own paramedics.

The new location, on a portion of the abandoned Air National Guard base about a quarter-mile east of the current facility, would improve maneuverability, speed and safety--and carries the added bonus of having less impact on noise-weary neighbors. In-house paramedics would improve rescues citywide by saving the crucial eight to 10 minutes it now takes them to reach the helicopters--while not leaving San Fernando Valley fire stations short staffed.

If the city can pull these improvements off, on time and within budget, it may even regain some trust from disgruntled Valley voters.

But those Valley voters who helped defeat Proposition 1 shouldn’t see the committee’s proposal as proof the city didn’t need the bond revenue. The facility itself will be a temporary trailer-style structure that won’t include, for example, the hangars needed to protect helicopters from wear and tear. In other words, it’s a Band-Aid. But since the defeat of Proposition 1 didn’t make the city’s public safety afflictions go away, it’s a Band-Aid we need.