Mark Crosse / The Fresno Bee
Cal Fire firefighters Josh Standen, left, and Ken Russell hold a grave marker that was removed from their old firehouse and will be transplanted in their new place when it is ready to be occupied.
For decades, firefighters at the Cal Fire station in Raymond have traded spooky tales about unexplained thumps, shadowy night visitors, lights that go on and off when no one's around -- and a ghost named Homer.
Now the firefighters are moving out -- not because they're afraid, but because Cal Fire has built a new fire station half a mile away.
The agency spent $3.7 million to acquire the property and build the station to replace the outdated older station. Among other things, the new station can accommodate modern trucks. It also has four bedrooms rather than a common barracks, and it has separate bathrooms for men and women.
The firefighters are all but inviting Homer to join in the move.
They've pried up a granite cemetery marker that had been embedded since 1989 in the floor of the old station's dayroom in front of a wood-burning stove. The marker, which reads "RIP Homer," will go to the new fire station.
"It's become such a mystique over the years," said Battalion Chief Roger Simms, a 36-year Cal Fire veteran. "We don't know if he's going to follow, but we welcome him with open arms if he does."
Simms said he doesn't know who installed the grave marker. There's no record of anyone actually buried there.
The new station will have its own built-in history. It is on 5 acres at the junction of Road 600 and Road 606, not far from where a U.S. Cavalry escort greeted President Theodore Roosevelt on his 1903 trip to Yosemite. The state purchased the site a few years ago from the Raymond-Knowles school district.
It's also where students of the long-closed Raymond Granite Union High School once tethered their horses and later parked their Model-T Fords to keep them off Front Street.
The move to the new station was expected to occur this month, but it has been delayed until May because some electronic equipment hasn't yet been installed.
Much of the lore surrounding the old station -- an adobe brick structure built in the early 1950s -- is shrouded in mystery. But firefighters have done their part to bolster the reputation of the place.
For example, the story of Homer is told in the written instructions left for visiting firefighters who fill in when the home crew is on call elsewhere. Instead of advice about such things as where to find spare blankets, the instructions contain the story of a 1930s murder-suicide.
Homer, according to the story, is the last name of a young couple. Driven by jealousy after learning his 17-year-old wife had a gentleman visitor during his absence, the husband stabbed her 75 times with a large Bowie knife and then hanged her from the limb of an oak tree that still stands near the station's front gate.
The husband then used barbed wire to hang himself from the same branch. He was buried in another state, according to the tale -- but his wife, buried in Madera County, still visits the place where she died, covering fire crews are advised.
"Treat this station with the utmost respect," the crews are warned.
It's unclear whether the tale is based on true events. Madera County sheriff and coroner records only go back to the 1940s.
But at least one ghost story is full of holes. It revolves around a footprint molded into the concrete floor in the station's basement.
According to folklore, after the floor was poured, the crew heard the sound of someone walking up and down the narrow stairways all night long -- but saw no one. The next morning, the footprint was there.
Retired fire Capt. Ron Fralicks, 73, scoffs at that particular tale.
"What kind of ghost would leave a footprint?" Fralicks said. It was made by a California Youth Authority ward pouring the concrete, he said.
Nevertheless, Fralicks insists the station where he started his career in 1953 -- and where he retired 14 years ago -- has been the site of "strange goings-on."
Fralicks recalled arriving back at the Raymond station at 4 a.m. one night after an out-of-county fire. He found the visiting crew sleeping out on the front lawn.
"Weird noises happen around here sometimes," said firefighter Ken Russell, who is assigned to Raymond.
Russell recalled that one night last summer when the crew was asleep, the bathroom light suddenly turned on -- but no one was in there. Just this month, he said, the firefighters heard something knock against one of the rear windows in the barracks. They saw no one.
Fire Capt. Rich Drozen said he's skeptical about the stories, because firefighters can be pranksters. But he recalled finding all the kitchen cabinets open one day -- when nobody was around.
The ghost stories aren't linked to any ancient folklore, according to Associate State Archeologist Linda Pollack, who examines the archeological effects of Cal Fire projects, timber harvests and wildfires.
The old station wasn't built on a known Indian burial site, Pollack said.
When Pollack visits the region, she said she sometimes stays in state fire stations. But she doesn't stay in the Raymond station.
"All I know is that it's haunted, and I've been told that I shouldn't stay there," Pollack said.
Despite all the lore, not everyone is afraid of Homer. Madera County is considering using the old station for its Raymond volunteer firefighters -- and may eventually turn it into a community center.
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