New Two Rock firehouse rising

Before it became the station house for the Two Rock Volunteer Fire Department, the distressed building at 7618 Valley Ford Road, 10 miles west of Petaluma, was home of the Two Rock Ladies Sewing Club. It was - and, frankly, still is - better suited to storing Singer sewing machines than firefighting equipment.

This proud volunteer department has been based at the firehouse since its inception in 1927. So cramped and inadequate is the station that its members can’t store gear there, lest it be chewed through by mice. The department’s firefighting vehicles are “scattered all over Two Rock,” said board president Ernie Nunes.

One of its engines, too tall for the station, resides in the shed of a nearby rancher. The water tender can be found in neighboring Bloomfield, while another, smaller medical response truck is parked in the driveway of Lori Anello, battalion chief of the department.

It’s easy to see why spirits among Two Rock’s volunteers have been especially high since ground was broken earlier this month on a new station house that will have a less colorful history, it’s true, but more space to park actual firetrucks and fire engines.

The new, four-bay station house will be 5,400 square feet, with a metal exterior - baked enamel tin, to be more precise - in a shade of “brick red,” said Nunes.

Groundwork will be finished soon, followed by a concrete pour for the foundation. The building, which will be completed in January, weather permitting, will rise on a piece of land donated by the late rancher Alvin Hansen.

“It’s been a long road to get to this point,” said Anello, a professional firefighter at the nearby Coast Guard base. Upon taking over the department nearly 14 years ago, she became one of the first female chiefs of a volunteer fire department in Sonoma County. (Her title changed to “battalion chief” on Sept. 1, when Two Rock and other North Bay volunteer departments went under the administrative umbrella of the Gold Ridge Fire Protection District.)

The organization she inherited was sadly diminished, down to four volunteers and under suspension by the county for not responding to enough calls, or providing enough training for those volunteers.

Today, Anello presides over a department with 21 volunteers, though not all of them are firefighters. Three respond only to medical aid calls and vehicle accidents.

When the new building is finished, “all of our equipment will be in one place, and all of firefighters’ gear will be at the station,” Anello said, “instead of in their trucks.”

The new station won’t have living quarters - yet. The board is proceeding in phases, Nunes said. This first step is to finish this new station, which will cost between $300,000 and $350,000. Once more funds have been raised, the station will be upgraded.

“It’s not the Taj Ma-firehouse,” allowed Capt. Lou Stoerzinger. “But we’re really happy to have it.”