A Sacramento County fire station that's been closed for four
years will soon have a new tenant. The station won't be
taking calls for service, but will be helping train veterans to
become fire fighters.
Station 33 in Orangevale could be open as soon as May.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is leasing the station as a base
for wild land fire training.
Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District says once the veterans go through training, they will be eligible to work for any federal, state, or local department, including Sac Metro.
COCKRUM: "We may be able to use to their crews to do some hazard reduction or hazard mitigation within our fire district. At this point, they're using that hand crew or two hand crews that they're gonna put in there just as a training ground to bring veterans back into the work force, train them to be wild land firefighters. "
BLM is leasing the station with funds allocated by President
Obama's "Plan to Put Veterans Back to Work." Forty veterans
at a time will be able to go through training.
The station was closed in 2008 when Sac Metro identified it as
station that provided overlapping coverage.
