Bernson Wants Fire Station Left Open and a 2nd One Built : Porter Ranch: The councilman had been criticized for backing a plan to close the facility.

Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson on Wednesday urged that Fire Station 8 north of Chatsworth be kept open rather than replaced--as planned--by a new station built by the developer of the controversial Porter Ranch project.

Bernson is facing the toughest reelection battle of his political career, largely because of his support for the huge Porter Ranch project. His previous acquiescence in the closure of Fire Station 8 had been cited by critics as an example of the lawmaker’s willingness to bow to the will of Porter Ranch developer Nathan Shapell.

Bernson’s recommendation that the fire station remain open was made in a letter to Fire Chief Donald O. Manning that was released Wednesday. Bernson asked that the new station be constructed in addition to keeping the current one in operation.

Bernson also recommended that in the next five to 10 years, Fire Station 8 be moved from its present site on Tampa Avenue north of the Simi Valley Freeway to an area near Sesnon and Reseda boulevards to meet changes in population patterns.

Don Worsham, a member of PRIDE, a group opposed to the Porter Ranch project, called Bernson’s move a ploy “to help him politically. But all it does is remove one issue of many that are troubling the community” about the Porter Ranch project.

Ali Sar, Bernson’s press secretary, responded that Bernson had never supported the closure of Fire Station 8, only the construction of a new station. “It was not an issue before,” Sar said.

Under a pact endorsed by Bernson and approved in August by the council, the developer agreed to donate a fully equipped fire station to the city in lieu of installing expensive fire sprinklers in the project’s 3,395 residential units.

But as a result of this agreement, the Fire Department also planned to close Fire Station 8. City records show the department believed it would be too costly to open a new Porter Ranch station and maintain Station 8, only about a half-mile away at what will become the corner of Corbin and Winnetka.

Residents living near Fire Station 8 have recently begun to complain loudly that the August agreement would leave them with reduced fire protection because they would be more than 1.5 miles from the new Porter Ranch station.

Fire Department standards call for low-density residential areas to be within 1.5 miles of the nearest fire engine company.

In his letter to Manning, Bernson said his plan was designed “to accomplish the goal of spreading fire protection equally” among residents of the northern part of his 12th District.

“I proposed that the existing Fire Station 8 remain open as a single engine company” and that the new station have two engine companies rather than the three envisioned initially, Bernson said.

“As the population of this area shifts, we will have a greater need for protection in this northern area of Porter Ranch,” Bernson predicted in his letter to Manning.

When that occurs, the city could then “fully implement” its original plan to operate three engine companies out of the new Porter Ranch station, Bernson said.