A proposal is on the table to redevelop the former Morro Bay fire station on Bonita Street, addressing what the fire chief says is a critical community need.
The Bonita Street fire station has been unstaffed since the 1970s.
“Over time, it’s been used for reserve firefighters to come and operate out of to get reserve apparatus, but it was never staffed after that,” said Chief Daniel McCrain, Morro Bay Fire Department.
"Wouldn’t it be brilliant to actually house it, staff it, and work from it?” said George Robertson, Morro Bay resident.
Over the last 20 years, the fire department has seen call volumes increase from 1,500 calls for service annually to 2,200 calls for service. Around 30 to 40% of those calls occur north of Highway 41.
“Just the travel time to North Morro Bay exceeds five minutes, which is an industry standard,” McCrain said.
The current fire station is located in the center of the city. Chief McCrain says they meet response times in the south part of Morro Bay, but he wants to better serve those living on the north end.
“We do provide a good level of service to North Morro Bay, but we’re trying to improve that level of service,” he said.
McCrain says there have been some instances that have hindered the fire department's ability to get to North Morro Bay, like the storms of 2023.
“Since I've been here with the department, we’ve had two instances of storms, and North Morro Bay was completely isolated because of road closures on Highway 1 and on Main Street,” McCrain said.
"If anybody tried to get through, it was difficult. But you can imagine if something was worse, that the fire department would have trouble getting through and we’d be stranded here,” Robertson said.
Chief McCrain says he is asking the city council to choose between three options for potential redevelopment of the station and $93,000 for the design.
“I’m asking the city to fund the design documents. That way, we have a shovel-ready project and that makes us eligible to apply for grants and other funding opportunities,” he explained.
The project would redevelop the current living quarters, not the apparatus bay. The building was built in the 1950s.
“The building is about 1,100 square feet, and it’s deteriorating. There are asbestos tiles on the floor, there is assumed to be lead paint due to the age of the structure, and the roof is deteriorating due to termite damage,” McCrain said.
When asked about staffing the fire station, McCrain said, “If this station were active today, I would move one of my two-person engine companies over here and automatically increase the level of service to North Morro Bay without changing the staffing.”
Robertson lives on Bonita Street and says it’s needed.
"A lot of people like me, seniors, that I can imagine are going to need help,” he said.
The Bonita Street fire station proposal is going before the city council Tuesday evening.
