On Tuesday, Nov. 28 a motion put forth by Councilmember Imelda Padilla, district 6, to add a second fire engine to Northeast Valley Fire Station 7, passed in the Los Angeles Public Safety Committee meeting. It will most likely go before the larger Los Angeles City Council to be voted on early next year, according to a spokesperson from Padilla’s office.
The motion states that the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) services the second-largest city, yet only employs 3,520 firefighters, below the National Fire Protection Association recommended ratio of firefighters to population served.
Freddy Escobar, president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles County (UFLAC), in public comments during the committee meeting, encouraged the council to pass the motion and address the lack of resources the LAFD currently has to service the community.
“As I mentioned multiple times before, the LAFD is short-staffed and has been lacking critical equipment for many years now. This is why UFLAC supports the addition of a second engine company at Fire Station 7 in the Valley,” said Escobar. “We need a fire department to reflect the City of Los Angeles today. We need a 4,000-plus fire department. Period. We have fewer firefighters than when I started 33 years ago.”
Local government consultants, Citygate and Associates, LLC conducted a standards of cover (SOC) deployment analysis and found the area near Woodman Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard in Panorama City had long response travel times. The region currently situated on the border of Fire Station 81’s coverage area, does not have a fast direct route from that station.
The motion proposes building a new fire station in the problematic area designated by Citygate, equipped with its own engine that can quickly respond to and service the needs in the area. The funding approval, land procurement and construction of this station is estimated to take approximately three to five years. Until the new station is built, an additional engine and the staff to operate it – a captain, engineer and two firefighters – are proposed to operate out of Panorama City’s Fire Station 7.
The Fire Station 7 company has operated in the area since 1886 – originally in a nearby location and with a different name. A new station was built for the fire company in 2015, which was designed to accommodate an expanding firefighter force, thus having the extra space to house the additional fire engine proposed in the motion.
On Oct. 20, 2023, the City Council authorized the acceptance of a $7,752,582 federal Staffing For Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant for the LAFD. This grant includes the funds for the additional fire engine at Station 7, and hopefully by April of 2024, the approval of funding for the twelve additional staff to operate it.
The additional proposed fire engine will not only improve service to the area that Citygate identified but also aid in the overall service and availability of resources in the San Fernando Valley.