While an official forecast for this summer’s fire season is still several months away, the current situation and weather forecasts are foreboding, according to Tim Chavez, the Riverside County Fire Department’s Beaumont battalion chief. He spoke at the Feb. 13 Mountain Emergency Service Committee meeting. “Did the 2013 fire season end? No, we’re still staffed…

At last week’s meeting for the Lake Hemet Municipal Water District, the directors approved the issuance of Proposition 218 notices for all ratepayers and scheduled a public hearing on Dec. 20 for the proposed new rate structures. While these actions apply to customers in the district’s Hemet, San Jacinto and Garner Valley areas, the proposed…