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Woodside fire district staff to move to Portola Valley By Dave Boyce Almanac Staff Writer
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s planning gets underway for construction of a new and up-to-date fire station at 3111 Woodside Road in Woodside, plans to relocate the administrative staff of the Woodside Fire Protection District during the interim are taking shape. The district is in the process of leasing a single-story 2,700-square-foot office building at 808 Portola Road in Portola
Valley, across the road from and kitty-corner to the Town Center, Fire Chief Dan Ghiorso said. The building would provide space for the district’s administrative staff of 10 for up to five years, the chief said. His goal is to make the move before July 1. Moving into one building would remedy a long-standing situation that has some staff at Fire Station 7 on Woodside Road and others at Fire Station 19 at 4091 Jefferson Ave. in Emerald Hills, he said. “I want
my staff all together,” the chief said in February. Relocations
For the first half of the 30-to36-month construction phase of the new station on Woodside Road in Woodside, the ambulance normally located at Station 7 will be relocated to Station 19, the chief said. Also relocated to Station 19 will be the battalion chief normally assigned to Station 7. “When we built Station 19, we knowingly
added rooms up there for tem- preferable for the new station porary dorms to house part of to accommodate both staff and Station 7 crews for this scenario,” firefighters, improving living conditions for firefighters at Stathe chief said. The new location would create tion 7 came first, the chief said. Firefighters there now sleep a delay, but an acceptable delay, in a dorm, and in response when an alarm times for the comes in, it battalion chief Fire district plans wakes them all, and the ambulance, the chief to build a new station not just those on duty. The said. The first in Woodside. new station responders for medical emergencies are the fire should have space for up to 10 engine crews, with each crew individual rooms, the chief said. A station that included member trained in advanced life administrative staff would have support, the chief said. The engine and crew at Station required a neighbor to sell an 7 will stay in the area, either on adjoining lot to the district, but the station property or at a yet there’s been no interest on the to be determined temporary site. part of neighbors and the disThe crew will live in a trailer, the trict will not resort to using its chief said, and the engine will be powers of eminent domain, the parked, preferably, under a tent, chief said. Costs for the new station are the chief said. also unknown for now. The district has $3.5 million set aside, New station There are, as yet, no drawings and the Woodside-Portola Valley for the new station, the chief Fire Protection Foundation has said. It will, however, have six offered to sponsor a capital camdrive-through bays — enough paign to solicit donations from to house an engine, a battalion district residents, the chief said. Asked if the new station will be chief’s SUV, a rescue vehicle, an ambulance and two secondary a green building, Chief Ghiorso vehicles, such as an all-terrain said that, aside from the possibilvehicle, a water tender or a ity of solar panels, it would not. reserve engine. With the current “There’s a lot of costs to (building three bays, the ambulance sits green),” he said. “That’s a nice thing to do, but it’s not necessaroutside every night. Drive-through bays will also ily in everybody’s best interests.” “We’re going to make this as eliminate the need for firefighters to be using Woodside Road to environmentally and user position returning fire engines so friendly as we can,” he said. “We’re going to do what’s best they can back into the bays. While it would have been for the community.” A
Barbara Rubin Slate, 83, longtime Menlo resident
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Barbara Rubin Slate of Menlo Park, who worked for the Menlo Park City School District for many years, died on March 23 after a short illness. She was 83. Ms. Slate was born in Oakland and grew up in Piedmont, attending Piedmont High School. She graduated Barbara Slate from the University of Oregon, where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. After college she worked as a flight attendant for TWA. In 1961 she married Harvey Slate and they settled in Menlo Park with their daughters in 1967. She became involved in the local schools as her children grew and was a member of the Woodside-Atherton Auxiliary to Lucile Packard Children’s
OBITUARY
Obituaries are based on information provided by the family.
Hospital. She started as a teacher’s aide at Oak Knoll School and moved on to the Menlo Park City School District to become secretary of curriculum. Ms. Slate loved flower arranging, gardening, knitting, cooking and entertaining, say family members. She enjoyed her weekly bridge group and her years in the Original Book Club, they say. She is survived by her husband of 54 years, Harvey Slate; daughters Pamela (John) Brunson and Sally (James) Lee; brother John Rubin; and three grandchildren. Donations in her honor may be made to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, suite 340, 400 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto, Alto 94301.