COBB, Calif. – Life for firefighters on Cobb Mountain has gotten a little better this summer.
The enhancement came with a new three-bedroom facility that was viewed by the public for the first time on Saturday during an open house at Cobb Station 62.
South Lake County Fire Protection District firefighters, however, have used the facility on Highway 175 for more than a year.
It’s been a more-than-welcome upgrade for them, replacing a cramped living quarters that was built in 1925.
The older building has been converted to an operational office, where burn permits are issued, fire reports are processed and online training is offered.
The new building has all the comforts of home, including a wood-burning fireplace. As important, it has storage space for everything that a firefighter on an emergency call might need, including receiving towels.
On a warm July day, it’s hard to imagine what makes the stationing of firefighters here so critical. But it is.
“If you think about our response area – especially in the winter – it is,” said South Lake County Fire Capt. Tony Allegra. “In the summer there are Kelsey-Cobb and Middletown fire stations, so the coverage is pretty good. But in the winter these shut down and go away and this becomes the only place on the mountain that is staffed.”
The year-round staff consists of two paid, full-time firefighters who are paramedics (because 90 percent of the calls to the station are medical) and man the station for 10 weeks. Additional firefighters rotate in 72-hour shifts.
The core two firefighters don’t get to go home during their 10-day assignments at the station, according to Allegra.
“It’s part of the job and it’s not a 9-to-5 thing,” Allegra said.
The response area for the Cobb Mountain station in winter covers 150 square miles, expanding to The Geysers, Middletown and Big Canyon to the south and Bottle Rock Road to the north.
One of the best things about the new facility is that it was constructed by Kent Reynolds, a building contractor who brought the expertise of being a former fire chief to the task.
“When we started to build, the first thing we recognized was we wanted to have a licensed professional and a former fire chief do it,” said Jim Comisky, president of the South Lake County Fire District Board of Directors.
An equal consideration was cost, which the district significantly lowered by having the building constructed in sections rather than the traditional “stick frame” system.
“This building is four (prefabricated) sections put together in Manteca and brought here in a single day,” said Reynolds. “It takes one day to put in the foundation and two months to have it in service.
“The problem in California is all the (structural and environmental) regulations,” he added. “By building this building offsite you are not able to circumvent the regulations, but there were several things that we could streamline.”
Reynolds estimated the cost of the Cobb station, which has a 50-year life expectancy, at about $80 per square foot and the structure covers 2,200 square feet.
Some of the wood used in the construction was from the Lake County Conservation Camp, which Reynolds estimated saved the district about $35,000.
“You want to see a fire station, go to Marin County, which cost $500 a square foot to build,” Reynolds added.
“This is a volunteer station,” Comisky said. “We used to have to wait for Middletown to come uphill. Now we’re on the hill and we have two firefighters here every day, 24-7. That’s our primary focus.
“It enables us to answer medical emergencies with quick response time, but also we have firefighters and firefighter apparatus here on the hill,” he added. “It’s a great partnership all the way around.”
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