New Sacramento County Fire Station Being Built To Help Protect At-Risk Area During Fire Season
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) — Wildfire prevention week is a reminder to be ready at the local and state levels, and that requires more resources.
Smaller grassland fires can lead to much larger fires, said Chris Dargan with Sacramento Metro Fire who spoke with us in the Anatolia neighborhood outside Rancho Cordova.
"We have a lot of dry vegetation, a lot of grasslands, [and] those are very fast-moving fires," he said. "Those are one of the most common fires we see around here."
That's why a new fire station is going up. Fire Station 68 will service an area where new home construction abounds. It's one of the fastest-growing areas in the region and it's right next to prairie and plains.
"Looking at trends—not just now, but 10, 15, 20 years down the line—this is an area that's going to see an increase in calls for service," Dargan said. "Not just structure fires or medical aids, but also grass fires and wildland fires."
The fire station will be part of the California Fire and Rescue mutual aid system that's coordinated by the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES).
"This program is really unique to California where the state purchases the fire engines and then assigns them to local government fire departments. They, in turn, put their firefighters on them and respond to mutual aid calls for assistance," said Cal OES Fire and Rescue Chief Brian Marshall.
Marshall showed us one of the 270 fire engines serving the state and the nation.
"These are the same fire engines you would see in any community's fire station," he said.
Marshall said the governor's recent request for an additional $1 billion in funding will help, but it's going to take a partnership between local, state and federal agencies.
"Especially in the wildland interface areas," he said. "If we can do these fuel mitigation projects, and hopefully when the fire occurs, we're able to keep the fire out of the structures."
