New Otay Mesa fire station will serve rapidly developing border area

SAN DIEGO, CA – The San Diego County Fire Protection District broke ground on July 12 for Fire Station 38 in Otay Mesa East.

Once built, the station will serve a rapidly developing area that includes warehouses, trucking companies, two power plants and a battery facility. Crews housed there will also respond to calls on the area’s expanding roads and highways that carry traffic crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The station will cost $14.6 million and will have 12 personnel, a ladder truck, fire unit, ambulances and other apparatus, and will be located just south of the intersection of Alta and Otay Mesa highways.

“This is a long-needed project for our communities. Each year, there are approximately 1,500 calls for this service area and we know that number will increase as well. With the future addition of the East Otay Mesa Port of Entry, the arrival of new businesses and upcoming housing developments, East Otay Mesa has a very vibrant future,” said Vice Chairwoman Nora Vargas, San Diego County Board of Supervisors, District 1.

The station will be 14,000 square feet with four double-deep appliance bays, 12 rooms, a kitchen, an office, a day room, a fitness room and a conference room. In addition, it is designed to be the County’s first net-zero energy fire station with solar panels on the roof and is also poised to achieve LEED Gold certification.

This year the County will invest nearly $50 million annually in a cooperative agreement with CAL FIRE to staff 20 fire stations 24 hours a day, employing more than 200 people.