Volunteers Install New Garage Door at Fire Station 12

Every time an emergency call comes into Highland Park's Fire Station 12 on North Figueroa Street, firefighters must complete a brief, but needlessly time consuming, task--closing the garage's rear door.

Manually cranking the chain that closes the rear door probably takes less than a minute, firefighters said, but when an all-hands emergency call comes in, those seconds matter.

On Tuesday afternoon, volunteers Rick Marquez, of the and Tony Howard, of , installed a brand new automatic garage door opener that would help Fire Station 12 save those valuable seconds.

As previously reported on Patch, to purchase and install the new garage door opener.

In addition to the hands-on labor provided on Tuesday afternoon by Marquez and Howard, HHPNC members Chris Smith and Janet Dodson also volunteered earlier in the day.

Firefighters explained that the door needs to remain open while firefighters are at the station to allow cool air to flow into the garage where machines are often charging or idling, which can reach 140 degrees in summer time.

In November, Capt. Gene Bednarchick said the new door would benefit the entire community.

"It's going to benefit you folks, also," Bednarchik added. "It allows us to get out of quarters that much faster. Right now, it's a manually opening door, and every time the door opens you gotta pull on the chain, we gotta make sure it's secured when we leave, and that takes a lot of time. Now, with the garage door opener, all we have to do is push a button, so we can get out of quarters that much faster."