Fire Station open house tomorrow

The community is invited to tour the updated Station 1 and meet the personnel of the newly-formed Canyon Lake Fire Department tomorrow (Saturday). The Grand Opening celebration will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the station on Vacation Drive.

“Come meet our new Fire Department personnel, take a look at our new engines and equipment, and tour the station,” City Clerk Ana Sauseda said in an invitation to the community. “The food will be provided by The Urban Craft Eatery.”

Up until Jan. 1, the fire and emergency services were provided by Cal Fire and the county. The fire station in Canyon Lake that is now City Station 1, was County Station 60 and had been in place for decades.

The station has been inhabited by the new City of Canyon Lake Fire Department for the past two months and the city and its new staff of firefighters have refurbished the station and spiffed it up. The tour tomorrow will show off what they’ve done to the station. The new staff of fire personnel will also be on hand and introduced to the community.

The debut of the new fire department on Jan. 1 was a long time in coming. It took almost a full year to put all together for a department that needed to be ready to respond to life-threatening emergencies come its opening the first of the year.

And respond it did. On Jan. 1 at 8 o’clock in the morning, emergency calls for fire and medical service for the City of Canyon Lake were routed to the brand new City of Canyon Lake Fire Department. An eager and cohesive department of firefighters and fire captains responded and took to the streets of Canyon Lake for the first time in the community’s history.

After a year of preparation and planning, the new fire department was ready to roll. More than 25 firefighters, including 15 reserves, were on staff and were trained for the Jan. 1 debut.

“This has been an incredible journey and I have been fortunate to work with an amazing staff at the City of Canyon Lake,” Fire Chief Jeff LaTendresse, the first to be hired almost a year ago and tasked with forming the new department, said. “We are a small city, yet each employee has made a difference in getting this new department up and running.”

Jeff, who was promoted from Interim Fire Chief to Fire Chief in December, went through an exhaustive process to hire his staff. The new employees were hired in November and have been in training for the municipal fire department ever since.

“In November I was also able to hire an incredible staff, including one Battalion Chief, three Fire Captains, three Fire Engineers, three Firefighter/Paramedics, 15 Reserve Firefighters, and an Administrative Assistant/Analyst,” he said. “During the time we have trained together, I have watched these talented individuals become a cohesive team that is totally committed to serving the City of Canyon Lake.”

Working hand in hand with the fire chief to create the new fire department was City Manager Chris Mann. Regulations needed to be established, budgets made, equipment identified and purchased and an endless list of other items on the two’s to do list. The list was completed and Chris was convinced that the department would be ready.

“The Canyon Lake Fire Department will provide a sustainable, high level of service, tailored to meet the needs of Canyon Lake,” Chris said. “I am confident that the Fire Department will become a source of pride for the community, and that Canyon Lakers will embrace our new firefighters.”

The City of Canyon Lake Fire Department waited to take residence in the fire station until the contract with Riverside County Fire and Cal Fire formally expired the end of the year. The city firefighters moved into the station, renamed it Canyon Lake Station 1 and got to work.

At the time the baton was handed to the city, the new fire department had much to do in a short period of time. Even though Cal Fire was cooperative with the transition and worked with the new city employees, the firefighters needed to quickly become familiar with Station 1, move all of the new equipment into the building and throw a banner over the existing sign sporting the new name. The permanent new sign was installed shortly thereafter.

Because of all there is to accomplish during the initial weeks of residence in the new station, no ceremonies or celebrations took place. Instead, the official open house is taking place tomorrow now that the fire station renovations are complete and operations are normal.

Calling 9-1-1 to report incidents and emergencies have been seamless since the city is contracting with the same County of Riverside dispatch and communications services that were used with Cal Fire previously. The process continues to work exactly as it has in the past and Canyon Lake residents have noticed no change.

The existing Engine 60 was turned over to the city, as the city owns the engine. It is the backup engine, and has been renumbered/renamed Engine 201. The brand new engine, Engine 1, is operational and will be on display at the open house.

“This is an exciting and historic moment for the City of Canyon Lake,” Chris said. “After struggling for the better part of a decade to manage and pay for fire service through a contract with the County of Riverside, this City Council took bold action to solve the problem once and for all by implementing local control.”