Orcutt residents will be seeing significant improvements in fire department service within the next few years.   Orcutt is currently served by two county stations:  Station 21 located at the corner of Union and Gray Streets in Old Town Orcutt and Station 26 off Stillwell Road near Clark Avenue.
              Planning is underway for a new station on a 4.6-acre lot off Union Valley Parkway (UVP) about a quarter mile east of Hummel Drive.   
             Garrett Huff is Deputy Fire Chief-County Emergency Services.  “For many years the Santa Barbara County Fire Department has recognized the need to add a station in the Orcutt area. The new location off UVP offers excellent access to a major thoroughfare, minimizes neighborhood impacts and avoids conflicts with the airport’s flight path, making it an ideal location,” he says.
             In the upcoming fiscal year, the goal is to complete a site plan and design a station that meets both current and future service demands. Huff says the station is planned to house a minimum three-person engine company, including a paramedic and a battalion chief.       
                 Fire and paramedic service in Orcutt improved this spring when the City of Santa Maria added an engine and three firefighters at City Station 6 at the Santa Maria Airport. Additionally, the county and city implemented a “boundary drop” system in which all 911 calls are funneled through the new county dispatch center on Cathedral Oaks Road in Santa Barbara. All available resources handle emergencies regardless of municipal boundaries. Depending on the location of the emergency, the closest available resource handles the call; therefore, green colored engines from Santa Maria will now be available to serve calls in Northern Orcutt.
              When plans for Station 25 on Union Valley Parkway were announced a few years ago, County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said the Station 21 in Old Town Orcutt at Union and Gray Streets, “is twelve steps to its next-door neighbor, and we need to replace it.”  The station was built on donated land in the 1960s and was operated with an all-volunteer staff until 2008 when the County Fire Department assumed control giving 24/7 paid firefighter service to the community.  
             The County has been looking at relocating the fire station, most recently at property on Marcum Street. But according to Huff, “Negotiations between the county and the property owners on Marcum Street have not been successful. We are continuing to pursue other properties in the Old Town Orcutt area.”     Steve Southwick reporting