ENCINITAS, Calif. — If you look at the grey brick building on second street in Encinitas, it looks well kept. Firefighters recently did the landscaping and it wasn’t that long ago when it got a fresh coat of paint.
But a recent building inspection report pointed out potential risks that could put first responders in danger.
"This one is mortar (and) brick here, you don’t see it a lot in Southern California for a reason," Armand Gilbert, who works in Encinitas said as he walked by.
Fire Station 1 was built in the 1950s and is not reinforced by today’s building codes to withstand a large earthquake. A large enough earthquake could be catastrophic.
"Seismically it’s risky because a good earthquake can cause the building to fall down, tumble. These block walls can be shaken loose and collapse," Encinitas Mayor Tony Kranz said.
The crew from Fire Station 1 moved out in a day. They’re now living with the crew at Station 3 located 1.5 miles away in Leucadia.
"That makes sense but it’s inconvenient for greater Encinitas area," Alex Gaston, Encinitas shopper said.
Cities typically like to strategically locate its fire houses. Fire station one can be seen at Moonlight beach in an emergency.
"At the end of the day if the other fire station is relatively close I feel all the other business and houses in the area are pretty well protected," Lee Finley, Encinitas shopper said.
The mayor said response times will remain within their set benchmark, currently 8-10 minutes.
A new fire station can cost millions of dollars. In 2022, Carlsbad unveiled their new $14 million fire house. But it could just mean a matter of reinforcing the building. We noticed many of the buildings in Encinitas may want to do the same.
"Old Encinitas is here on first street now referred to Highway 101 has quite a few building that are unreinforced masonry so it’s really a matter of looking at when your house was constructed what the building code was when it was constructed," Kranz said.
There's no timeline right now. Encinitas will have to look at what’s needed, how much it will cost and put it in the city budget.