A temporary fire station closure in Chula Vista has some neighbors concerned over the effects on response times during emergencies.
Station 9 is also posing some major health concerns for firefighters—a sign, warning of asbestos is now posted near the back door.
But this is not the first time the station has been closed down.
"We've had asbestos, we've had sewer backups, we've had times where we've had to close the station down and remove the companies; so it's been an ongoing issue and now it's just more and more frequent," said Darrell Roberts, President of Chula Vista Firefighters.
In the meantime, other stations have been responding to calls Station 9 would normally go to, making the response time longer—especially for the surrounding area.
"This specific area because of the geographic layout, there's a lot of hills, there's a lot of terrain, which slows the response times down. So that's why it is so critical and we were so upset to lose this engine company," Roberts said.
Resident Margarita Tamayo-Palestino told NBC 7 that she is also concerned with the closure.
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"I have a kid who has a peanut allergy. Yes, I have her EpiPen but I would need immediate attention if things got really bad, so this is a little scary," Tamayo-Palestino said.
She said she is also worried about being notified of the closure adding that if this happens again, she hopes the city will post social media sites to keep residents informed.
"They had the courtesy to do that, to let us know that they're closing some busy street on Olympic, but something like this; why wouldn't they let us know?" she said.
NBC 7 reached out to the City of Chula Vista about the building concerns but have not heard back yet. The city did send out a notification on Tuesday night that Station 9 is now open.
But firefighters will not be able to stay inside for some time. Instead, they're staying in campers in the back parking lot.
