The city of Santa Maria held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Fire Station No. 3 on April 18.
The new fire station will replace the current facility at 1527 N. College Drive, which is a converted, more than 70-year-old house. The old station’s crew and equipment will move to the new station to allow for better service to northwest Santa Maria.
The planned No. 3 will sit on 1.2 acres at the southeast corner of Preisker Park. The new station, at 2305 N. Preisker Lane, will feature
3,079 square feet of living space and more than double that for “apparatus,” with a work and storage area.
The current Fire Station No. 3 handles 40 percent of all calls that come in to the Santa Maria Fire Department, said battalion chief Dan Orr. With the construction of this fire station—and another new station yet to come, Fire Station No. 5—the department hopes to split the district evenly.
“[Fire Station No. 3] is probably the busiest station in a few counties,” Orr said.
Fire Station No. 5, planned for Donovan and Suey Crossing roads, will be the only station in the county on the east side of Hwy. 101. The goal is to provide better response on that side of town, Orr said.
Both projects are made possible through a $4.36 million grant the fire department won from the competitive federal stimulus program, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
At the groundbreaking ceremony for No. 3, Mayor Larry Lavagnino said Santa Maria received the largest ARRA award in California—and one of the largest in the nation. Only six other stations in California received awards.
“We need more fire stations to keep up with our growth,” Lavagnino said.
In early March, the City Council awarded Carroll Development the $2.22 million bid for Fire Station No. 3. The bid for Fire Station No. 5 will be awarded in the next couple of months. Construction on that station is expected to begin in mid-to-late summer.
Fire Station No. 3 is set to be finished next year.
This article appears in Apr 21-28, 2011.