After a year in which two natural disasters — fire and floods — have threatened the hill and disrupted living patterns, the Fourth of July and the evening of July 5 raised concerns of a third disaster, earthquakes. While Idyllwild only experienced the tremors from two distance quakes to the north, Ridgecrest — near the…

The Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) received its new ambulance and has been running calls. Some members of the public contacted the newspaper regarding the ambulance running calls without being marked as an ambulance.The ambulance does not have to pass a California Highway Patrol (CHP) inspection and be issued a permit before being in service…

Two traffic collisions occurred on mountain highways over the last week, according to California Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Matt Napier.On March 9 at 6:50 a.m., Bryce Evan Fletcher, 19 of Hemet, was driving his gray 2011 Toyota Tacoma northbound on Highway 243 just north of Saunders Meadow Road at a stated speed of 45-50…