Menlo Park Fire District Celebrates Expanded Reach

MENLO PARK, CA -- The town's fire protection district that covers East Palo Alto is hosting two landmark groundbreaking ceremonies Monday to commemorate its expansion onto University Avenue and into the Belle Haven neighborhood of the city.

The first event in East Palo Alto is slated for 1.30 p.m. at Fire Station 2, located at 2290 University Avenue. From there, a special dedication will pay homage to a new tillered aerial ladder truck company.

The second event is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Menlo Park's Belle Haven neighborhood at Fire Station 77, located at 1467 Chilco Street. This is where a dedication of the new light Rescue Squad 77 will be honored.

The eastern side of the fire district from U.S. Highway 101 to the San Francisco Bay includes a highly concentrated population in residential, commercial and industrial areas for the cities of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park.

The ladder company will come in handy as building heights, floor area and density sizes have gone up in recent years. The key to a successful fire district lies in response times, emergency responses and readiness to technical rescue calls.

In 1995, the fire district negotiated a 55-year land lease with the City of Menlo Park to add a seventh fire station in the Belle Haven of Menlo Park. Emergency response to these areas had historically come from Fire Station 1, located at 300 Middlefield Road near Willow Road.

Two years later, fire Station 77 opened at 1467 Chilco Street as one of two stations now located on the east side of U.S. Highway 101.

Among other changes seen in the Menlo Park district and landscape, Facebook moved its operations in 2011 from Palo Alto to Menlo Park launching unprecedented expansion and growth. Just weeks ago, the district went out to the campus to help manage a bomb threat leveled on the social media giant. It currently owns over 150 acres of land in the city with extensive lease holdings meant to house an estimated employee population of 25,000.

Other changes abound as in the breakup of the former Belmont/San Carlos Fire Department and eventual consolidation of the Redwood City and San Carlos fire departments as well as the Belmont and San Mateo fire departments. While all of these jurisdictions celebrate the net cost savings and efficiency benefits of these new arrangements, the elimination of a ladder company and Battalion Chief in the San Carlos/Belmont corridor and a doubling of the geographic distance between the current location of Redwood City Truck 9 and San Mateo Truck 23 places a burden on resources.

The new Fire Station 2 re-opened in 2016 as a two-story, 12,000 square-foot, three-bay, drive- thru, modernized fire facility that can now accommodate the largest piece of fire apparatus such as a tiller ladder truck.

“Effective Jan. 7, 2019, the fire district will operate four emergency first-response units staffed by 12 personnel or a doubling of capability and the number of units and personnel needed to adequately maintain an effective and essential fire force in this growing area," Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said.

The idea is to overcome challenges by making emergency response teams more mobile, while beefing up coverage amid traffic congestion and problematic roadway designs seen on Marsh and Willow roads, along with sections of University Avenue.

--Image courtesy of Peter Mootz