FEMA grant helps Calif. city reopen fire station

San Gabriel Valley Tribune

EL MONTE, Calif. — A fire station that was closed last year because of a budget shortfall here will reopen in a few months thanks to a federal grant and city funding.

The El Monte city council approved a budget Tuesday night that included approximately $500,000 to reopen Fire Station 167, located at Bryant and Peck roads. The remaining $1.8 million to reopen the station will come from a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The station's closure last August may have slowed paramedics' response times in parts of the city, according to Paul Rusin, director of the Los Angeles County Fire Fighters Local 1014. Because Station 167 is the most centrally located, it had housed the city's one paramedics unit. When the station closed, the unit was moved farther away from some areas.

"It made people scared. They knew it would take more time for paramedics," councilwoman Emily Ishigaki said. "We need it back."

The FEMA grant will help pay for the station for only two years. In 2012, the city will have to fund the full $2.3 million cost of the station, a burden that worries finance director Julio Morales.

Though the city was able to produce a balanced budget this year without any significant cuts, largely thanks to pay cuts agreed to by city employees, pending expenses in the coming years could create a "significant structural imbalance" if revenues don't increase significantly, Morales said.

"We are moving in the right direction, but we are still in a precarious situation," he said.

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