As of last week, Fire Station 16 on Los Arabis Drive in Lafayette has been closed indefinitely due to rodent infestation and leaking plumbing.
It is believed that rats under the station may have chewed the plumbing pipes, causing the leaking issues at the station, according to Contra Costa County Fire District Facilities Manager Ron Guelden. The leaks have caused mold contamination and the station was closed last week under the advice of County Risk Management.
Guelden said that because they don’t know how big the problem is, they do not know when the station will be open again. An assessment is underway.
Firefightersl from Station 16 have been relocated to Station 15 on Mt. Diablo Blvd. until the issue is resolved.
Lafayette has a mutual aid agreement with the Moraga-Orinda Fire District, and Station 43 in Orinda is not far from Station 16, thus delayed response time should is not expected to be much of a problem, according to Guelden.
The natural implications of this admission are obvious to anyone who cares about efficiency, but alas are lost on our dedicated civil servants. We taxpayers are hungry, so forgive us from innocently assuming that rats eating half the government's grain might cause a problem for them and, therefore, us. It is with mixed emotions than we learn that nearby redundant silos are full and that all bellies will remain full.
Let's put the non-issue of mold up for logical examination. Fact: ALmost every home with a climate controlled area under the floor has some mold growing. Moisture plus oragnics =mold. If mold was as dangerous as the environmental/health crisis industry would have us believe. EVERY home in europe with a basement would be quarantined and people would be dying in the emergency rooms from the terrible mold plague. Mold? Spare me the tears. Rats? WHo doesn't have rats under their home?? They can sqeeze into virtually anywhere. This is a fabricated story to shut down an old firehouse.