Firefighters have finally moved in to their new Station 22 on Catalina Boulevard in Point Loma after just over a year of construction.
To mark the occasion, local officials will formally dedicate the structure during a ceremony July 24 beginning at 9 a.m. Members of the public are also welcome and encouraged to attend at the station, 1055 Catalina Blvd.
The new facility replaces a much smaller station that was home to crews after being built in December 1942 and had been earmarked for replacement decades before funding was found.
The original station cost $7,800 while the new station was priced at $5.74 million.
The new station features 6,180-square-feet of space on one floor with dormitory space for five crew members and one captain. A raised roof over the engine bays is designed to admit natural light.
There are two very large red-doored bays on the structure’s south side for fire engines although a station captain said there are no current plans to add a second engine or a paramedic unit there.
Based on input from firefighters, they will now depart on emergency calls from these doors where they can use an existing driveway to enter Catalina Boulevard. This also allows crews to back the engine into the new station after calls without stopping street traffic as in the past.
Station 22 firefighters saved the original door from the old station and have made it into a table in the new station the captain reports.
The front west side of the station features a pubic entrance and four-panel artwork by Los Angeles-based artist Roberto Delgado. Additional landscaping is also set.
In fiscal year 2017, Engine 22 responded to 2,017 calls including 146 fires, 37 rescues, 1,342 emergency medical runs, 194 hazards and 15 service calls.
Station 22 has one of the largest service areas of any station in San Diego covering 5.97 square miles including parts of Ocean Beach, Point Loma, Shelter Island and Cabrillo National Monument.
When construction began last June firefighters at the station were moved to temporary facilities on the property so there would be no interruption or delay of services to area residents. Those temporary structures are now being dismantled.
