After three years of construction and working out of temporary facilities, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department and Sheriff’s Office celebrated a new joint station opening in New Cuyama to serve the community and the surrounding Cuyama Valley.
“It represents more than emergency services, but pillars of safety, resilience, and unity for the New Cuyama community,” County Fire Public Information Officer Capt. Scott Safechuck told the Sun.
Known as Station 27, the state-of-the-art facility is a collaborative effort between the County Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Office and cost $8.2 million to complete. Before opening, law enforcement operations were carried out from multiple buildings—with County Fire’s Station 41 based out of the home and an apparatus garage, Safechuck said.
“Over the years, Station 41 [Station 27] had been remodeled in some areas of the station to keep it in working condition, but the establishment of the new station has been a great investment not just with the community, but the fire station as well,” he said.
The station was built in 1948 by Fire Warden Jack Anderson who established a patrol house in the rural community that included a small residence/firehouse and an area that served as a living room, dining room, and kitchen, Safechuck said. During construction, County Fire worked out of a trailer provided by the U.S. Forest Service and had temporary structures to store engines and equipment so they could provide uninterrupted services.
According to a statement from the county, the Sheriff’s Office also owned two small homes that provided residences for sheriff’s deputies and another home that was converted into a small substation.
“However, these homes were not needed for many years, so they were torn down to make way for the new combined fire/sheriff’s station. The old substation has been converted back into a residence,” according to county officials.
Raquel Zick, the Sheriff’s Office public information officer, added that one deputy will be working per shift with assistance from the California Highway Patrol, neighboring counties, or the Santa Maria patrol as needed.
“The Cuyama Deputies are unique in their relationship with the community that they serve. They essentially live in the small community where they work and therefore become familiar with the residents and aware of ongoing issues,” Zick said in a statement. “This community connectedness is integral for policing a remote area like New Cuyama.”
Deputies typically respond to welfare calls, alarm activations, civil disputes, and report calls in the Cuyama area, Zick added, and will often respond with fire and medics to assist with vehicle accidents.
Fire Station 27 will have four fire personnel working there—a captain, a fire engineer/inspector, and a firefighter paramedic and EMT, Capt. Safechuck said. County Fire will have one type 1 fire engine, a type 3 brush truck with four-wheel drive, a four-wheel-drive pickup truck, and a water tender that responders can bring to vegetation fires.
“The Cuyama Valley is in a rural area, 60 miles east of Santa Maria and almost the same distance from the Bakersfield area. What’s unique about it is the Cuyama Fire Station, or Station 27, serves not just the Cuyama Valley, but it’s closest to parts of Ventura, Kern, and San Luis Obispo counties,” he said. “We work together with the adjoining counties and fire resources from different areas, and we are often the first responders there.”
Additional assistance will come from Santa Maria or Orcutt, from Ventura County off Highway 33, or there’s an engine that comes out of Taft in Kern County to the east of Cuyama, he added. As wildfire season approaches, there’s also a helicopter air support unit in Santa Ynez that can be deployed and arrive in Cuyama in 12 to 18 minutes.
“About an hour and a half prior to the ribbon cutting ceremony, we had a vegetation fire on the other side of town and contained it to an eighth of an acre. The annual grasses are drying out, and as we get into warmer weather it will be very prominent,” Safechuck said.
—Taylor O’Connor
This article appears in Jun 15-25, 2023.