The Bureau of Land Management’s new Midway Fire Station is officially open, and its hard to say who’s happier – the city to have the station in Taft, or the BLM which finally has a station over on the Westside.

The BLM is leasing the city’s old fire station at 801 center St. for the next 20 years and held a ribbon cutting Friday morning before about 50 people, including the city, Kern County Fire Department and BLM officials from as far away as the state offices in Sacramento.

“I think it’s a good marriage between two great organizations,” said Taft City Manger Bob Gorson.

“We are just excited about this,” said BLM Regional Field Manager Tim Smith. “This is a place we need to be. This is the right place for us.

State Fire Management Officer Craig Burns said the BLM has looking for a new station location in the area for 10 years.

The old station in the Carrizo Plain area was closed in 1999 because of water and communication problems. The firefighting equipment was moved first to the BLM Bakersfield offices in Oildale, then to a rented facility at Seventh Standard Road and Highway 43 for a couple of years.

The BLM was looking to buy land in the Taft area to build a new station and had talked with the county about taking over station 23 in Fellows, Burns said.

Then Taft started contracting with Kern County fire for protection and the Taft Fire Station became available.

The BLM and city started talking last year and that led to the 20-year lease and a deal that made everybody happy
“This has been a long time coming,” Burns said.

The BLM is more than happy with the station.

Burns said its as good a newer stations the BLM has built in the past couple of years.
Even the KCFD is happy.

“It’s something that is definitely going to augment fire protection on the Westside,” KCFD Deputy Chief Mike Cody said.