Fire Stations

Alarmed that some Los Angeles police officers and firefighters are working in cramped and decrepit stations, the City Council voted tentatively Wednesday to place up to $750 million in bonds on the April 13 ballot for new public safety buildings. The council also tentatively approved a separate, $35-million bond measure to build an Environmental Science Center in Exposition Park, but postponed action on a $200-million tax measure for sidewalk improvements.

The Los Angeles Harbor Commission, concluding that it can no longer wait to improve fire protection of the nation's busiest commercial port, agreed Tuesday to award a $4.4-million contract for construction of a fire station on Terminal Island. The decision caps months of study by city port and fire officials on updating a 1985 plan to provide the fire stations, equipment and personnel needed to safeguard the harbor in the coming decades. It also paves the way for purchase of a $4.

Firefighters at two fire stations in high-crime areas of Southeast San Diego have been provided with bulletproof vests to protect them when they respond to emergency calls. Battalion Chief John Hale said Thursday that city officials authorized the transfer of 13 bulletproof vests to Stations 12 and 19 from the Police Department about a month ago.

Mayor Richard Riordan--overwhelmingly supported by San Fernando Valley voters in his April 8 reelection bid--will propose an annual budget Friday that would give the Valley a new firehouse and police station. The fire station, representing the only new one in the city, would house 12 new firefighters and two paramedics in Panorama City, where the Fire Department response time has been slow because existing personnel can't keep up with the number of calls.

Firefighter Craig Campbell, who has started a personal crusade to put paid firefighters into one of the few remaining all-volunteer fire stations in the county, will take his argument to the City Council tonight. Campbell, who asserts that the all-volunteer force at Station 12 endangers people's lives, will square off in a public hearing against a contingent of county officials who say his charges are unfounded.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman said Saturday he will ask his colleagues to delay closing a fire station in Lake Chatsworth until he can assure residents of the remote, hillside neighborhood that they will have adequate fire protection. "The people who are served by the fire station are quite concerned," Edelman said. "They're interested in keeping the station open. It may be that we can work something out to save it.

Residents of Chatsworth Lake won a battle Tuesday when county supervisors approved a budget that includes funds to keep open a fire station serving their remote area. The Board of Supervisors earmarked up to $1 million in the county's record $11.9-billion budget to keep the station operating in the rugged mountain community west of Chatsworth. The station serves 51 homes but also covers a wide expanse of brush area.

Construction has begun on a fire station that has been in the planning stages for 11 years, West Hollywood officials said Thursday. The new site for Los Angeles County Fire Station No. 7 was chosen after city and county officials received extensive input from residents, City Councilman Paul Koretz said. A fire station was initially proposed in 1986. "Better late than never," Koretz said. Officials said the project's $4-million cost will be shared by the city and the county fire district.

The City Council voted 11 to 0 Tuesday to build a fire station on the site of the Florentine Gardens nightclub in Hollywood. The historic club's exterior would be incorporated into a training facility at the new Fire Station 82, but the club's owner, Kenneth MacKenzie, does not want to sell. The city's next move will be to make a formal offer for the property. If MacKenzie rejects it, the city can try to acquire the land through eminent domain proceedings.

A fire station was evacuated Tuesday after a man came in seeking help with what he said were two live grenades in his truck, authorities said. The grenades, which proved to be duds, were removed from a box and detonated by the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad, said Los Angeles Fire Capt. Al Veliz. The man told firefighters that he had gotten the grenades from his father, who is in a convalescent home, Veliz said.