Firemen Have a Suite Life

Nobody in Fire Company 67 expected room service, complimentary shampoo, let alone mints placed daintily on the pillows.

But these are cushy times for a squad of Newport Beach firefighters who were hired after a team of county firefighters moved out of town when a fire burned their station house in December. The engine company is now temporarily headquartered in a pair of second-floor rooms at the Radisson Newport Beach, the fire engine parked just outside.

And although it’s not the Ritz-Carlton, it’s still a far cry from the quarters they’re used to.

For firefighters who are accustomed to doing their own housekeeping, it’s almost awkward to have their beds made for them and the bathroom scrubbed, clean washcloths artfully folded on the counter.

Some can’t get used to it.

“They help the girls when they clean the rooms,” said Blanca Chavez, who heads the housekeeping staff. “Many people make a big mess, but not them.”

The familiar image of firefighters bolting from the table, leaving their meals behind when an alarm comes in also is missing in a hotel setting.

“One time we were interrupted [with an alarm], and the dining room staff kept our food warm for us,” engineer Terry Lewis said.

It has its drawbacks, though. “If we ate in the dining room all the time, I’d weigh a ton,” Lewis said.

But they never have to worry about where to park their 1982 Mack fire engine. They have a “reserved” space right by the stairway they use when they respond to calls. Needless to say, they don’t take the elevator.

Capt. Mike Macey, however, misses the camaraderie typical in a station.

“There’s so much that goes with a station that’s missing here,” he said.

The unique arrangement came about after an Orange County Fire Authority station near John Wayne Airport was damaged in a fire in December and had to be boarded up. As fires go, it was a small one, an attic blaze caused by a malfunctioning heater. It took the firefighters, who were sleeping at the time, about 20 minutes to knock down the flames.

The team of firefighters was moved to a county station in neighboring Irvine. But that left a gap in the area’s coverage and slowed down response times, fire officials said.

Newport Beach, which has long planned to annex neighboring Santa Ana Heights and provide its own fire protection for the area, opted to fill the gap by hiring a new engine company of its own.

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One problem: The city didn’t have a fire station for the company to move into. And the one the county had left behind was burned.

“The council didn’t want to wait [to build a new station]. They said, ‘Do it and do it now,’ ” Newport Beach Fire Chief Timothy D. Riley said.

So they added the engine company. And by placing the firefighters at the Radisson, the department reduced average response times to about a minute, down from nearly five when the county responded from the Irvine station.

“My hat’s off to the City Council,” Riley said. “They knew it was a big dollar, but the motion passed 7 to 0.”

But mints on the pillows and turned-back bedsheet must come to an end. The firefighters will be checking out in a week or so, Riley said. Fire officials are looking for a suitable spot to place a mobile home to temporarily house the engine company. A site has not yet been selected.

“It was supposed to be two weeks, and that was a month and a half ago,” said the hotel’s general manager, Mark Zovic, who arranged the terms of the stay with the Fire Department.

He’s not complaining, though.

“It’s very comfortable having them here. I have not had one single complaint about [them].” In fact, he said, if not for the truck parked outside, “you don’t even notice them.”

“They told us: ‘Don’t worry. We won’t turn on the siren until the truck is off the property.’ ”