The COVID-19 pandemic is delaying the opening of Manteca’s newest fire station.

The large roll up doors for the fire engine bays have been loaded for weeks on a boat in Switzerland ready to be moved down the Rhine River and then be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean. Issues associated with the global COVID-19 pandemic have stalled their movement.

 The city’s fifth fire station being built at Atherton Drive and Woodward Avenue was on track to open May 19. Fire Chief Kyle Shipherd now is shooting for a June 2 date at the earliest to have the station staffed and up and running to bring roughly 3,000 households in southeast Manteca within a five-minute response time.

Traditionally when a new station opens the fire department invites the community to tour it during an open house event. That will not occur initially and may take place later in the year due to the pandemic.

For the first time in 65 years, the city is positioned to open a fire station that is fully staffed with all three shifts manned with three firefighters. The station will initially open with a backup fire engine currently assigned to another station. A new $602,000 engine has been ordered for the Woodward Avenue station. Delivery is expected in mid-2021.

The new station being built for $4.8 million will serve as a blueprint for future stations. It has state-of-the-art designs aimed at reducing firefighters’ continued exposure to carcinogenics from fires once they return to the station. It includes special flooring, a boot cleaning area and  a pressured air system to make sure when turnout gear and boots are removed after a fire that carcinogenics aren’t brought into the living quarters.

The station is designed to house up to five firefighters.

That will give the city the flexibility down the road to add a rescue squad or even allow Manteca District Ambulance to house an ambulance and crew if a need for such additions arises as the city grows.

And while the department hasn’t talked about housing Manteca District Ambulance units at the current time, but based on current call patterns they have been told the station’s location is not where the ambulance district would want to station an ambulance at this point in time.

Manteca has been staffing all fire engines with three firefighters since 2000.

Engines will respond to calls by accessing Woodward Avenue while they would return via a driveway off Atherton Drive. At night when traffic is not an issue, engines will respond to emergencies without the need to hit the siren as they do from other stations. The only time they use sirens leaving the station  at night is when traffic is an issue.

That policy — along with station design that reflects adjoining architecture — is in place to the fire station and its operations blend as seamlessly as possible into the neighborhood.

Shipherd noted a recently installed four-way stop at the intersection by the station has effectively slowed down traffic to make it safer for fire engines being dispatched to turn onto Woodward Avenue.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com