The FY 2021/22 draft budget was discussed at the last Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) Board of Commissioners meeting. The board also voted to approve the final annual financial report/audit at the April meeting.
Idyllwild Volunteer Fire Company is still recruiting.
The total budgeted revenue is $2,598,002.11. The total budgeted expenditures are $2,590,500. Some of the larger expenses are dispatch service ($82,500), benefits ($678,404.69), public safety employees’ salaries ($729,274.14) and regular overtime pay ($116,683.86). The entire draft budget accompanies this story.
Emergency siren alert system
A Sturgeon Electric superintendent located a pole for the siren alert system (donating it to the district) and the company will be setting it for free. The pole will be here April 15.
The district and Mountain Disaster Preparedness (MDP) are partnering on the postcards to be sent out to residents regarding the siren alert system. MDP will be paying for the printing and mailing of the postcards. MDP’s board approved up to an additional $2,500 for banners, flyers, etc.
Near the beginning of the meeting, Ross Bowlin, power lineman for Sturgeon Electric, told his story to those in attendance. On July 6, 2020, he was working in town and fell 30 feet from a platform.
“Me and my crew of four guys and three other crews — a total of about 20 guys — were up here to reconductor a bunch of wire at the end of Tollgate,” Bowlin said.
One of the main things they are doing is changing out the overhead conductors in the area to an insulated aerial conductor which helps prevent fires, according to Bowlin. On July 6, he was replacing the crossarms that go horizontally across the pole and support the conductors with composite crossarms that won’t catch fire.
“What we think happened is I took one of those arms to the edge and when I threw it off one of bolts on that arm caught my harness and took me over the edge of that 30-foot platform,” Bowlin explained. “One guy caught me through the corner of his eye going through the trees and heard me shouting.”
As a result of the fall, he had 19 broken bones, including the top seven vertebrae in his back. Both lungs collapsed and he had a moderate traumatic brain injury. According to Bowlin, Idyllwild Fire responded and called for an airship, treating Bowlin until it arrived. Bowlin was transported to Desert Regional Medical Center.
“Once I got there, I started crashing pretty bad,” he said. They were not able to do surgery on his back for a week because of the severity of his condition.
He was eventually transported by plane to Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado. According to its website, Craig Hospital “is a world-renowned rehabilitation hospital that exclusively specializes in the neurorehabilitation and research of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and brain injury (BI). Craig is a not-for-profit, free-standing, national center of excellence that has treated more than 34,500 patients with SCI and BI since 1956.”
The hospital allowed his wife to be there with him for four hours a day. He got there the second week of August and was discharged Sept. 16 when they drove back to Murrieta, where he lives. He is still doing some physical therapy.
“About a month ago, I went back to light-duty work and I am trying with all I can to get fully released to go back to work,” Bowlin said. “So, that’s my little accident. I can tell you guys from talking to other people and everyone else the decisions that were made that day on July 6 were the reason that I got to be there for my son’s 11th birthday. So, he read to me every night when I was in Desert Regional on the phone and I never said a word back to him. So, being able to be there with him now to get to read together is amazing. My wife and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary in November.” His step-son will be graduating from Boise State University in about a year.
Twenty-two days after Bowlin’s accident, IFPD Commissioner Henry Sawicki’s son-in-law, who also works for Sturgeon Electric, also fell from a pole. He was also treated at Craig Hospital and is now home. Sawicki said Bowlin and his wife have been an incredible help to his daughter and son-in-law.

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