Cameron Park likely shuttering a fire station

Noel Stack Managing editor

With reluctance, the Cameron Park Community Services District Board of Directors supported a fire service plan that will brown out Station 88 on Alhambra Drive. The plan presented by CPCSD General Manager André Pichly, following several discussions with Cal Fire and a CSD Ad Hoc Committee, includes a five-year service extension agreement with Cal Fire that will run July 1, 2023, to

June 30, 2028, during which time Cal Fire will continue to operate out of Station 89 on Country Club Drive using a nine-person staffing model (one three-person engine company with a staffing factor of three — three bodies per seat working three-day/72 hour shifts) and keep ambulance service in the district.

“Although less than ideal, this staffing model allows the district to maintain reliable fire and emergency services at a base level with our current partners and provides time to explore the future of our service in the bigger picture of other agencies and county responses to these needs,” Pichly notes in his staff report.

Cal Fire Amador-El Dorado Unit Chief Mike Blankenheim acknowledged, “Taking an engine out of the system is not safe for the system.” However, he said, agreeing with this plan will ensure one fully-staffed fire station and put less stress on Cameron Park’s firefighting personnel as vacancies,