THE FIRE STATION that serves a narrow, flood-prone rural area of southern San Mateo County is scheduled to be replaced after the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this month to award a design contract for a new fire station in Pescadero. 

The project will be developed at 350-360 Butano Cutoff, adjacent to Pescadero Middle and High School. It will replace the current Fire Station 59, which is located in a flood zone approximately 1.5 miles away.

“We are proud to invest in this historic project that will provide much more than a typical fire station,” said Supervisor Ray Mueller, whose District 3 includes much of the rural coast. 

The new station, which could begin construction in mid-2025, will provide barracks and garage bays for additional equipment and amenities, as well as provide drinking water for students and staff at Pescadero Middle and High School.

In December 2023, the California Coastal Commission voted to allow the county to move the current station to the new site, thereby extending a water line to the new station.

It also resolves an ongoing public health issue that has vexed the Pescadero community for years: the commission’s approval means fresh water can be delivered to the school, where students and staff now depend on bottled water due to contaminated wells.

The current Fire Station 59 was built in 1957 and suffers from mold, cramped quarters and heavy use, with firefighters occasionally forced to wade through floodwaters from nearby Butano Creek.

County officials said the new station is much needed.

Flooding in Butano Creek near the current station may force emergency personnel to wade through rising waters to reach downtown Pescadero and residents further east. The current station suffers from mold, cramped quarters (nine people can live there during fire season), and heavy use since its construction in 1957.

Thus, the supervisors at their April 9 meeting awarded the design contract worth $1,619,326 to PBK Architects, based in California.

The new station will be designed to “have a useful life of 75 years and take into account the fault near San Gregorio,” according to the contract.

The County’s Capital Improvement Plan through the Measure K half-cent local sales tax has allocated approximately $20 million to relocate the new station.

In September 2023, the board approved a 99-year lease for the 1.75-acre site with the La Honda Pescadero Unified School District.

Peninsula 360 Press is a collaborative media outlet with news from Redwood City and the Peninsula, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Latin America, Asia and Europe.

This story originally appeared in Peninsula 360 Press.