A new fire engine, the promised Type 6 model, has been purchased and is on its way to Riverside County Fire Station 23 in Pine Cove.
At the April 12 meeting of the advisory committee for County Service Area 38 (Pine Cove), Chair Jerry Holldber confirmed the engine’s purchase. As of the meeting, the county has used $120,000 from the CSA 38 reserves for the engine’s purchase. Riverside County will provide basic equipment for the squad, but the advisory committee, in consultation with Station 23 crews, may purchase some more equipment.
However, space on the vehicle for a lot of supplemental equipment is limited, according to Chief Bill Weiser, Bautista Division for Riverside County Fire.
But Weiser was very happy to have the new engine here. “It has a tank carrying water,” he said, describing it. “And it’s nice for access on some of the roads here that are tight.
“When the weather is bad and it’s hard to maneuver on some slopes and we have to get to a location, especially for medical emergency, it will be good to have,” he added.
In other business, the wood-chipper purchase has been approved and its delivery will be soon, according to county officials. Its cost was about $40,000, according to Holldber.
“It was basically bought for the benefit of this community,” stressed committee member Marge Muir, local real estate agent.
While RCFD will maintain the chipper, Weiser concurred that its uses will be to assist the maintenance of county fuelbreaks and the community chip site. “We’ll be stewards of this equipment.”
After the wood chipper is delivered, the masticator will be next on the purchasing department’s list of projects, Weiser added.
Work on the shaded fuelbreak in the Pine Cove area will begin in the next few weeks, according to Weiser. The environmental reports are nearly complete and Chief Greg Bratcher, Forest Division at the Mountain Resource Center, should be issuing a contract shortly.
RCFD burned more than 1,200 piles of slash and dead material this winter in the Stone Creek area of the Mt. San Jacinto State Park. This work will tie into the Shade Fuelbreak, he added.
“With that much dead material, this was a fantastic job,” Weiser told the committee. “The window in the weather allowed crews and heavy equipment to complete it just days ago — a monumental task.”
