Editor:
I was born and raised in Idyllwild with our family history going back to the 1800s. I have worked locally with several of our merchants and personally worked as a volunteer EMT for Pine Cove and Idyllwild for more than 14 years. The importance of local support could not be greater and the Town Crier dated 8/15/2013 had a full-page ad promoting Cal Fire, disgracefully requesting the dissolution of our local fire department.

During the Mountain Fire, several old-timers were called up as there were several entities on our mountain assisting who were not familiar with our area.

Although we appreciate all the outside help, we do not need the “Johnny-come-latelies” coming in and changing our mountain. My personal feeling is, love it or leave it.

Our local fire department has been here for decades. We have been through many trials and will continue to move forward.

The service provided by our local personnel is impeccable and many of us have had their services, and several in this town owe their lives to those paramedics.

The mandatory evacuation during the Mountain Fire went seemingly well with the exception of closing off the Pine Cove residents who did not get evacuated.

Some merchants were ordered to leave and rumors flew around that Edison power would be cut. Pine Cove Market was not allowed a delivery, putting further stress on the Pine Cove residents.

Let’s take back our mountain. Responsibility starts with all of us. We need to continue to support our local fire department and the crews who run it. We need to continue to push the IFPD board to locally place a fire chief. Since Chief Walker left, the last two chiefs are questionable. We do not need Cal Fire and the bureaucrats that run their political agendas. We need to ask Cal Fire to leave and fully support our local department.

S. Johnson
Idyllwild/Pine Cove