LBREPORT.com sought confirmation of the exploratory considerations from senior city management and LBFD brass, and our inquiry was routed to City of LB Chief Public Affairs Officer Kevin Lee (as it involved multiple departments.) "I am not aware of any City staff or a City-contracted firm currently conducting further review of mold at the station in order to reoccupy it," Mr. Lee said (in a less than flat denial email to LBREPORT.com.) "The City continues to look for a new permanent site for Fire Station 9, which is noted in a January 27, 2020 memo (visible here.[which references two previous memos here and here

The abrupt announcement of Station 9's closure -- coupled with relocation of its paramedic Rescue 9 across the L.A. river to WLB and Engine 9 to LGB -- triggered public dismay, became a political hot potato for 8th district City Councilman Al Austin and never made sense to 8th district Reform Ticket candidate Juan Ovalle.

At an August 2019 community meeting (organized by Councilman Austin and LBFD management), Mr. Ovalle said city officials had been irresponsible in letting a LB taxpayer owned public safety facility decay to the point where mold required its complete tear down. He noted that many area homes are older and no responsible homeowner would let their property descend to such a point.

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Management's proposed remedy was to tear down Station 9, use the flattened site for temporary deployment until a new larger Station 9 is built on a new site. Councilman Austin accepted management's explanation and took steps to prioritize management's desired remedy. In September 2019, the City Council approved allocating several million dollars from Measure A sales tax revenue to initiate management's plan.

All of this occurred at the same time as Mayor Garcia and the City Council (without dissent) seek LB voters' approval in a March 3 ballot measure to extend the 2016 Measure A sales tax by current required reduction (2023) and elimination (2027) dates. As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, the LB Firefighters Union PAC is the second largest contributor (over $132,000 to date) to the Mayor Garcia-run pro-Measure A campaign and has endorsed Council incumbent Austin for re-election in the same election cycle..

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LBFD management had consistently acknowledged that relocating Rescue 9 to WLB and Engine 9 at LGB would increase (worsen) response times in the area near the former Station 9 but sought to downplay the effects. But then came the Oct. 31, 2019 triple fatality vehicle (alleged DUI) collision that killed the three members of the Awaida family (father, mother, 2 year old child). The collision site near Los Cerritos Park was very near former Station 9, but a considerable distance from where Rescue 9 and Engine 9 are now based.

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, internal LBFD records (obtained by LBREPORT.com under the Public Records Act) show it took roughly 8-9 minutes from dispatch for LBFD Engine 9 and Rescue 9 To reach the Los Cerritos area

LBFD's Incident Report doesn't indicate from exactly where Engine 9 and Rescue 9 were dispatched and it's possible that one or both were at a location in the field when they were dispatched. LBFD subsequently told LBREPORT.com that LBFD has no accessible records of exactly where Rescue 9 and Engine 9 were when they were dispatched to the scene.

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As also previously reported by LBREPORT.com, with vote by mail ballots about to arrive, in the January 27, 2020 memo [referenced above by City spokesman Lee] LBFD Fire Chief Espino credited the Measure A sales tax for enabling the new Station 9 site (then still under negotiation) and said there had been "minimal impact" thus far on response times (making no reference to the response times for the Awaida family triple fatalities.) "All funding was made possible using Measure A revenues" the memo stating, adding that "total potential Measure A funding of $7,761,510 over the next four years, recognizes the criticality of this project and will allow staff to proceed expeditiously as we implement a solution that is in the best interest of the City."

Councilman Austin has publicly pointed to progress finding a new possible location for a new Station 9 as evidence of the prioritizing the project and thanked the Council for its commitment to allocate the Measure A funds to the task.

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