Fire District Seeks OK to Replace 6 Stations

Expanding its construction program, the Ventura County Fire District will ask the Board of Supervisors today for tentative approval of its plans to replace six aging fire stations throughout the region and to build a new facility in northern Simi Valley.

Stations targeted for replacement are more than 40 years old and no longer meet operational, seismic and building code requirements, said Abbe Berns, assistant director of fire services. “There are all kinds of requirements that have changed in 50 years,” Berns said.

The new stations, part of the district’s ongoing capital improvement program, would meet all current operational requirements, she said.

Stations that would be replaced are in Fillmore, Lake Sherwood, Meiners Oaks, Newbury Park, Ojai and Thousand Oaks.

Work is expected to begin next year on the facilities in Lake Sherwood and Meiners Oaks and the new Simi Valley station, with the other replacement projects to follow in 2005. Each new station is expected to cost between $2.6 and $3 million, Berns said.

The roughly $20-million cost of the entire project would likely be raised by issuing bond-like certificates, said Paul Derse, the county’s chief deputy executive officer.

During the past three years, county fire stations in Oak View, Port Hueneme and the Camarillo Airport have been replaced with new and larger facilities. Stations are currently being replaced in Moorpark, Malibu and Piru.