When he agreed to work several days a week in Ranchita a few years ago, Volunteer Firefighter Efrain Carrillo wasn’t sure he’d get much emergency experience in the desert settlement of a few hundred people. Accustomed to city life, the Escondido resident wasn’t sure he’d get used to the place either.
But Carrillo found plenty of action in Ranchita. Covering a 32 square-mile area, he and fellow firefighters with the Ranchita Volunteer Fire Company handled serious traffic accidents, medical emergencies, and occasional fires—great experience to help him land a job as a full-time city firefighter one day, Carrillo said. And he came to love the community and its people.
Still, he never got used to the wolf spiders, tarantulas and scorpions that found their way through cinderblock walls of the old one-room firehouse.
“We had quite a few insects, even a rattlesnake,” Carrillo said.
But a recently renovated and modernized station has banished the creepy-crawlies and left Carrillo and his fellow firefighters to serve the community in comfort and safety. This Saturday, the firefighters will host an open house and lunch to show off the improved station.
“We’re more at ease here and it feels like a more professionally run station,” Carrillo said. “It mimics the comfort of home.”
The renovations, which were managed by the San Diego County Fire Authority, include sleeping quarters, showers, a kitchen, engine bays, an office and a day room. Heating and air conditioning have also been improved. The improvements cost about $880,000 and were funded by the County and authorized by the Board of Supervisors.
Ranchita is one of 12 backcountry volunteer fire companies that joined the County Fire Authority in 2008. In communities that previously had on-call or part time volunteers, the Fire Authority established 24-hour firefighting service. Fire Authority volunteer firefighters, including Carrillo, are trained through a CAL FIRE academy and paid a stipend in return for regular, overnight shifts.
| Ranchita Volunteer Fire Company Open House | |
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June 15, 2013 |
However, the Ranchita station and others were never designed for a 24-hour firefighting crew. So the County Fire Authority has been busy modernizing the backcountry stations. Including Ranchita, the Fire Authority has renovated 12 fire stations since 2008.
The original fire station in Ranchita was built by the community before the volunteer company joined the Fire Authority, Carrillo said. So some residents felt natural skepticism at the County’s plan to do major renovations, he said.
But community members he’s talked to say they’re very happy with the finished building, Carrillo said.
“Now that we have the station and they can see what it is, they have a lot of pride in it.”
