The Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) Board of Commissioners of met Tuesday, Nov. 17 with commissioners Stephanie Yost and Dennis Fogle absent. On the agenda for the closed session following the public session was the performance evaluation of Chief Mark LaMont. Following the evaluation, Commissioner Henry Sawicki reported that the evaluation was “very favorable.”

The open session began with Commissioner Rhonda Andrewson reading one of two letters to the board offering praise of LaMont: one from Salvador Reyes, acting fire chief of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF), and the other from Jim Snow, district fire management officer for the San Jacinto Ranger District of the SBNF.

Both letters focused on the cooperation between agencies, the “relationship” or “partnership.” Snow said that the need is to maintain and strengthen current fuels reduction projects more than to create new ones, although he also highlighted IFPD’s role in the 25,000-acre Thomas Mountain project.

Reyes’ letter spoke of Lamont’s “dedication to learning the nuances of IMT [Incident Management Team] usage and deployment on complex incidents in various leadership roles,” and his “comprehensive understanding of the importance of mutually beneficial local agreements between the IFPD and the BDF” [San Bernardino National Forest]. Specifically, he underlined that LaMont has the “wherewithal to make essential financial decisions on behalf of the department” during cost share agreement conversations.

The chief’s willingness to respond when needed has led Reyes to propose a uniquely defined Partnership Agreement with IFPD, with funding starting at $200,000 to repay the district for resources used in fuels reduction and fire response. He went on to say that LaMont and IFPD are among “the very small number of municipal fire departments … that we have confidence in to be able to operate safely and effectively in the high consequence environment of wildland fire.”

As a postscript to the letter, Snow added that the ranger district is currently hiring. La Mont pointed out, in his report of an Oct. 26 meeting with state Senator Kelly Seyarto, that the SBNF fire service staffing currently has a 56% vacancy rate. During the meeting he said the USFS fire service is 68% staffed. This he attributes to “the archaic pay structure (GS) of the federal government. “This is a national issue that impacts California in particular.” LaMont has said the pay and benefits for IFPD employees are designed to keep the department fully staffed.

Since this is the last meeting of 2023, the Chief’s Report had elements of being an annual summary, and the chief used the report to lay out a number of his key priorities. The first page laid out the staff. Under the chief, there are two administrative employees, and then 13 firefighters; four battalion chiefs and three “shifts,” each with a captain, engineer and firefighter. The table also points out that each of these members also has special assignments: vehicle maintenance, medical supplies, wildland training, safety officer, etc. Battalion chief duties include items like annual budget development, tracking incident response times, ambulance billing, grant writing, inspections, etc. This “wearing of many hats” permeates the organization: Executive Assistant Rachel Teeguarden has recently been certified as an emergency medical technician and may administer first aid for “walk-in” emergencies now.

The report detailed vehicle acquisitions since 2019: 10 vehicles, three of which were acquired at no cost. The total cost, cash and financed, was listed as $1,033,500. Teeguarden told of a visit from a fire chief from an urban district. He was surprised by the variety of vehicles for a “single house” department. IFPD has the ladder truck and pump vehicles urban departments have, and four ambulances, but also has a stable of trucks for wildland fires, some of which can handle “two track” access roads. LaMont called IFPD a “one stop shop” that “has to do it all. It is a costly endeavor.”

The report lists accomplishments that have been reported before; the 97% compliance on home abatement inspections, the progress on the new Bear Trap fuels project, and community CPR classes (five for USFS; two for local tree companies; two for local camp employees; and two community classes, with one more planned before year-end.) Fifteen Mutual Aid calls were listed, with at least one more since the report was drafted. The Mutual Aid calls added up to $2,130,000 which the department has invoiced, well above last year’s $1,353,000. The report also enumerates $120,000 in grants received, and lists a number of applications still pending.

Average incident response times was reported as 3.15 minutes for medical aid and 4.08 for fire; ambulances are faster than fire trucks.

In response to questions from the Crier, LaMont provided an explanation of the dispatch process and some history. When he first came to Idyllwild Fire in 1999, firefighters received training on dispatch four times a year; Idyllwild Fire acted as its own dispatcher, a capability it still has. At that time, the volume of calls was around 450 a year, less than a third the current. In 2002, the department entered into a contract with Riverside County to include IFPD in the 911 system. At first locals were reluctant to use 911, but by 2010 they had generally accepted it.

But the chief still asks locals to call 911 first, and then also call 951-659-2153; sometimes IFPD is able to arrive at the scene before the call goes through the dispatch process. Cellphone 911 calls in the area go to the California Highway Patrol first. Those calls outside CHP’s area of expertise are then sent to Riverside Sheriff’s Public Safety Answering Point and from there triaged to other agencies like Cal Fire, which in turn contacts the responsible agency.

Among the action items on the agenda was a proposal for bonuses for IFPD employees. This was approved. The next meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9.