Dear editor:
I’m Nervous! Very Nervous. We live in a fire prone area during the worst drought in years. Everything is dry. We are a tourist town with many off the Hill visitors clueless about how easy it is for a fire to start and in a matter of minutes consume half this mountain. We are in the heart of fire season. Where is our IFPD fire chief? Why is our chief not on this mountain in our most critical period? Why are our taxes paying the fire chief’s salary when he is not present? Why is the fire chief off the mountain fighting fires in other areas and getting additional pay for doing so while he is not earning but still collecting his income from this community and our taxes?
How can the IFPD fire commissioners that approved the chief’s contract look their constituents in the eye —those of us that may have voted them in knowing how vulnerable we are? How thoughtless and ingenuine these commissioners are! How can the IFPD board even face any of us knowing that they allow this type of incompetence to occur and continue. The IFPD chief’s contract with the department is a “personnel issue.” What a smokescreen that is! When my home burns down due to a lack of local leadership during a fire, I won’t give a hoot about a “personnel issue!” Will you? The commissioners that approved the contract need to answer to the constituency BIG TIME and answer now! We need to either fire the entire board for allowing us to be so unprotected at such a critical time or instruct them to fire the chief as if he isn’t here when we need him most. Who needs him at all? WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? This situation needs to change.

Chuck Weisbart
Idyllwild