Sunset Beach Fire Station 3 closed on Friday, Oct. 8.
The future of the building remains unresolved, according to Mike Van Voorhis, a director on the Sunset Beach Community Association Board of Directors.
Van Voorhis met with representatives of the Orange County Fire Authority and other officials at the office of Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach on Wednesday, Oct. 6.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the possible sale of Fire Station 3.
A Sept. 23 Fire Authority staff report to the agency’s Board of Directors said the staff intended to hire a real estate agent to sell the building.
The report predicted the Fire Authority could get $1 million from the property.
As previously reported in the Sun, some members of the Sunset Beach Community Association would like to buy the old fire station for $200,000.
That is the value of the land that the association donated to the county before the fire station was built.
Van Voorhis said the issue was still unresolved at the end of the Wednesday meeting.
He said the building will be appraised. After that, the Fire Authority Board of Directors will decide the fate of the fire station at a future meeting.
Van Voorhis said Sunset Beach residents want to keep the building because it is used for “virtually all” Sunset Beach events.
Van Voorhis attributed Fire Station 3’s Friday closure to a recent Fire Authority decision to disband volunteer firefighter units in 11 communities including Sunset Beach, Seal Beach and Los Alamitos.
However, the Sept. 23 Fire Authority staff report said the county agency was transferring responsibility for emergency responses to the Huntington Beach Fire Department as part of the Huntington Beach annexation of Sunset Beach.
“Fire Station 3 is an older facility and with the annexation will no longer be needed for the OCFA,” the report said.
“The Orange County Fire Authority has provided fire and emergency services to Sunset Beach for over 60 years,” the report said.
“Over the next several months, the Fire Authority will be working with the County of Orange, LAFCO and the city of Huntington Beach for the transfer of emergency services and finalizing an agreement for the city’s continued coverage of the area and Bolsa Chica.”
“The annexation is set to take place on or around January 1, 2011,” the report said.
