The Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) board of commissioners swore in new commissioners, discussed fire codes and the alerting system at its Jan. 26 meeting.

The district swore in Dennis Fogle and Christina Reitz as commissioners. The board unanimously approved Ralph Hoetger as president, Henry Sawicki as vice president and Rhonda Andrewson as secretary of the board.

The board of commissioners will have Brown Act and ethics training Thursday, Feb. 11 with the district’s legal counsel.

One probationary firefighter did not pass probation. The district is going to hire another probationary firefighter.

MOU: IFPD and Idyllwild Career Firefighter’s Association

A draft of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the district and ICFA was presented for FYs 2021-26. The prior MOU expires by next fiscal year. The salary schedule is still being negotiated.

Andrewson commented during the meeting that the negotiations with ICFA have been productive and constructive.

The ad hoc committee has met twice and it is on the way to an agreement. Sawicki said he hopes to have the MOU in place by March so the district doesn’t have to worry about it.

Chief Mark LaMont stated the district salaries are roughly 30-40% under other agencies.

Emergency siren alert system update

The district has the siren on the property. Because of COVID, Sentry Siren, Inc. has been dealing with a backlog to install the siren. A subcontractor for Sentry Siren, Inc. will be installing the siren. Sentry Siren, Inc. advised against installing the siren on the building.

New brush engine

The district added a new/used brush engine to its fleet. The engine was paid for by the USFS/USDA FEEP. The only cost to the district was $7,400 for paint and hose/nozzle installation.

Language to fire code

“I do want everybody to understand that this is not punitive, and that as your fire chief, I have a specific obligation to life saving and so the ideals behind what was presented originally with 33% work around the ideals of life saving,” said LaMont. The concern is adding onto smaller cabins and that impact on the call volume. “Part of my problem with this goes past the liability of adding fuel, adding square footage, putting houses closer to other homes and that is we have the lowest operating budget in the county. There is nothing outside of a measure that will get us additional operating dollars, and we cannot short of passing something that says, if you add onto your house, you will be responsible to pay this much for emergency services from now on and I don’t think anybody wants to see that.” Part of this, according to LaMont, was to figure out how to serve the citizens of Idyllwild, keep them safe and to ensure the district is capable of providing the service.

Hoetger’s issue still is whether or not this will have any impact on passing a measure that he feels is needed. He also brought up the traffic issue after a snowfall and the concern regarding response times and wanting to limit the growth of Idyllwild.

The board will “hear final discussion regarding this and other changes” at the district’s next board meeting in February.

The current language reads, “when an addition to an existing structure is 50% or more of the original square footage, the entire structure shall be provided with an automatic sprinkler system.” The community has the ability to review the following amended language that will be up for approval at the February meeting: “When an addition to an existing structure is 33% or more of the original square footage, ‘and’ the addition area is greater than 1,000 square feet, the entire structure shall be provided with an automatic sprinkler system.”

Grants

The district was awarded $156,000 Assistance to Firefighters Grant to purchase four cardiac monitors, ambulance gurneys and additional EMS/medical gear. An agency contribution of 5% is required. The total amount is $148,571.43.

Next meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23.