A parade of bagpipes and drums launched the opening of Oceanside’s new downtown Fire Station 1 on Monday, July 15.
The procession went from the original nearly century-old fire station on Pier View Way to the new $18 million facility at 401 N. Freeman St., which broke ground two years ago.
The new station, located next to City Hall, can accommodate modern-sized firefighting apparatus, and larger ladder trucks and crews.
Fire Station 1 replaces the historic original station built in 1929 designed by noted architect Irving Gill, the city stated in a news release. City officials said they believe the facility was one of the oldest operating fire stations in the United States.
“Tradition is a big part of the fire service, but at the same time, change is inevitable,” Chief David Parsons said in an Oceanside Fire Department Instagram post in June. “The fire station was built in the 1920s. It’s a hundred years old, approximately, and does not serve the needs of the Fire Department anymore. We love it. We lived in there for a really long time.”
Parsons said the new station allows for the department to better serve downtown and greater Oceanside, especially with the growth that the city has experienced in recent years.
“We needed something that can match the needs of the community, and this new fire station is that resource to do so,” Parsons said.
The old station, which also needs seismic upgrading, will be repurposed for community use, according to the city.
Artist Sasha Furlan was commissioned to design a mural for Station 1’s fire pole alcove. The half-circular, approximately 14-foot-by-10-foot piece is designed to honor fire crews with a nod to the “ghost” of the original 1929 station.
“The ‘ghost’ is coming with us,” the chief said with a smile as he motioned to the mural.
In another Fire Department Instagram post, Furlan described some of her thoughts going into designing the mural.
“It was challenging to think of,” she said, describing the shape and dimensions she had to work with. “I never worked in this kind of form, so I had to think about how people are going to feel when they go down, what will they see, how that’s going to look in the whole tunnel, what’s going to be visible from the outside. It was interesting.”
Funding for Fire Station 1’s design and construction came from Measure X, Oceanside’s half-cent sales tax. In addition, the city received a $3.5 million federal Defense Community Infrastructure Program grant, one of 13 such grants made in the nation, according to the city.
The facility was built by Cox Construction Co. of Vista.
