Firefighters who are called into action to fight fires on or around Palomar Mountain will have a fire station with living quarters after a $1.8 million remodel, county officials said.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved the funds to build a new fire station and demolish the current one that was built in the early 1990s.
Two staff firefighters sleep in a nearby community center because there are no permanent living quarters in the current station.
According to the county, a recent assessment by the San Diego County Fire Authority determined the station needed to be a long-term facility.
Given the remote location of Palomar Mountain and the fire risk in that area of the county, firefighters need an updated space.
The renovation will include a fire truck access road that's paved and widened, county officials said.
In the 2007 Firestorm, the Poomacha Fire destroyed thousands of acres including a majority of Palomar State Park. The mountain community was threatened more recently by the destructive Cutca Fire in July 2015.
Local
There are less than 500 people living on Palomar Mountain. However, the Palomar Observatory is home to three research telescopes and is run by Caltech.
