New Plans and New Places
You may have heard, we are in the process of downsizing our presence at the BDU headquarters facility and turning the space back over to the Department for use as much-needed office space while we work to build a permanent facility for bigger and better displays and to accommodate more visitors.
In June of this year, The Yucaipa City Council approved a lease agreement for our museum to utilize the former San Bernardino County station 39, aka BDU Yucaipa station 555, a vacant volunteer fire station in Oak Glen. The agreement was finalized and recorded in August and we look forward to occupying the premises soon. Aside from the aesthetic appeal of being a former CDF fire station, and the bonus of flexibility we get from it’s large lot, our temporary home will be just down the road from RRU’s Oak Glen Conservation camp and is located in the “apple-picking” region of the Southern California mountains.
At about 5000′ elevation, the Oak Glen area sits right on the county line between San Bernardino and Riverside counties and also hosts several orchards, shops and restaurants that draw seasonal crowds and a cooler climate which makes a popular weekend escape for locals from the surrounding inland area. We already house our 1963 Chevy Model #1 in its empty apparatus bay, but the rest of the property has been un-occupied for years. As is, it may serve a variety of purposes in our overall long term plans.
Our intended use for the building is to serve as a temporary home during our transition between our current main facility at BDU HQ and our future plans for a permanent building. (more on that later) We will be gaining additional storage area to accommodate our ever-growing collection of artifacts currently in rental storage, with the bonus possibilities for housing and maintenance of our restored fire trucks serving the region, a small display area and the potential for pop-up open house events. We are calling it the Oak Glen “Annex” as its only an extra stopping point along the way to our new permanent home. Its not big enough inside to host any display equivalent to the place we’ve called home for over 20 years, but it will very much relieve the pressure between needing to vacate our current space before our new building is fully realized.
We plan a big announcement soon about gaining our own property to build and occupy a bigger better space!
If you’d like to assist with these exciting plans for our expansion, Stay Tuned for announcements regarding work parties to clean and prep the new site, help move and organize both old and new storage areas or to eventually serve as a docent or assist with public open house days.