IFPD talking of community service district

The Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) commissioners held their regular session Tuesday, Jan. 30, and selected new officers for the year. On unanimous votes, the board reelected President Dan Messina and Secretary Rhonda Andrewson, and chose Henry Sawicki to replace Dennis Fogle as vice president.

Chief Mark LaMont reported that Commissioner Stephanie Yost and Messina have been meeting with members of local water boards. The idea of a community service district (CSD) has come out of those meetings. LaMont said he had talked with Pine Cove and Fern Valley water districts’ board presidents with IFPD’s legal counsel leading the discussion to lay out what a CSD would entail. When IWD has a new GM, the outreach will include them. LaMont has produced a preliminary organization chart and a “very preliminary draft vote.” He underlined the “extremely preliminary” nature of these discussions that touch on “combining” the agencies.

During the part of the meeting given to commissioners’ reports, Messina gave his personal thanks: He became seriously ill on Dec. 18. He named LaMont, Fire Captain and Captain Paramedic Robert Clark, and engineers Torrey Gerstner and Greg Minor as among the crews who “helped in [his] time of need and made a big difference.” Medical response is a big part of IFPD’s work, with many of the firefighters also doing this work, and Executive Assistant Rachel Teeguarden recently completing her paramedic certification. LaMont has many times told the board of the deep emotion he feels upon meeting the many members of the community to whom his crew has been able to render assistance.

Yost discussed the experience of working with LaMont and Teeguarden “on some of the community interactions with other organizations” including Idyllwild Water District (IWD). In particular, Yost said she looks forward to better communication between IFPD and IWD.

IWD, in January, fired its general manager (GM) and has selected a new interim GM Curt Sauer, who began his job Feb. 5.

The chief’s report (available along with other important documents at idyllwildfire.com) was a rapid-fire review of the department’s activities and plans. Plans for this year’s home abatement inspections are underway. Depending on weather, this may start in mid-April. “Please start early,” LaMont said. IFPD will come out and walk homeowners through what needs to be done.

On fuels projects, the chief announced that the cutting at Bear Trap Canyon is complete, and cutting is starting again on the Thomas Mountain break. Burning is anticipated to begin at Thomas in May, and Bear Trap toward the end of May or early June.

Community CPR classes are being planned for the year. In 2023, five were offered to various groups. One has been set up for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office in February. The chief is hoping to get as many members of the board as possible to take a class, and points out recertifying students can skip the first part of the class, and that the protocol that is currently being taught is much simpler than the older system that required memorizing many pair of numbers for breathing and chest compression for different types of patients.

The local water district boards also will be invited to join a class. Another class being scheduled for fall is Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). About 70 members are on the roster now. For more information, contact IFPD.

Mutual Aid calls kept IFPD crews busy in 2023 and brought in over $2 million. The new “crew” the district brought into service last year (Crew 621) will, hopefully, move up initial attack status, said LaMont. This depends on retaining 60% of the crew. The job is seasonal, but LaMont thinks 60 to 65% return is possible. This crew also is part of the partnership agreement that the chief looks forward to finalizing with the U.S. Forest Service. Now, that relationship is limited to the San Bernardino National Forest. The proposed agreement would be with USDA, and allow IFPD to operate in other forests. This would, in turn, open up more grant dollars and “hopefully,” he said, allow the crew to become a year-round part of IFPD. The agreement includes requiring the crew be available to leave abatement projects and assist in emergencies.

LaMont mentioned the two grant applications, for over $2 million, that the board signed off on at a special session earlier in the month and other grants. Assistance to Firefighters Grant and a Volunteer Fire Assistance grant are in the works. Last year, these two sources yielded $40,000.

The next meeting will include a draft budget for 2025. LaMont suggested the need for an “administrative vehicle” for Teeguarden, who presently uses her own vehicle and is reimbursed for fuel but “refuses” to submit invoices for mileage.

Teeguarden is currently attending classes that will enable her to serve as a liaison with other agencies and a public information officer.

Teeguarden spoke later of the experience in these classes, and the liaison’s job of building and maintaining relationships between responding agencies, and making sure incident commanders “have what they need.” LaMont listed the number of things that have to happen during large-scale incidents; communications with not only firefighters but also vendors and companies like SCE, the Anza Electric Cooperative, gas companies, Caltrans, California Highway Patrol and the sheriff’s office. The liaison is the nexus between the commander and these groups.

LaMont’s Capital Improvement Plan was so full of last-minute revisions due to items completed that he told the board he would provide a clean version at the next meeting. IFPD’s vehicle catalog, which includes details of acquisition and maintenance for each vehicle, and its accessories, also is a work in progress.

LaMont met with the Riverside County EMS Agency and Global Medical Response (GMR), which bought out American Medical Response. For two decades, IFPD provided ambulance service for Pine Cove and Zone 3, which includes Poppet Flats, but no longer does that. The county’s new agreement includes a GMR ambulance for Pine Cove, and the recent discussion included “how efficient or inefficient that was, and we’re in early conversations about ambulance service across the mountain plateau.” The jurisdictional agreements that allow IFPD to provide these services outside the Idyllwild area are complex and involve “grandfather” clauses and legal counsel, he said.

LaMont will be teaching classes at Riverside County Fire’s training facility, which was closed during COVID. Classes will include Strike Team Leader, Task Force Leader and Advanced Wildfire Calculation.

LaMont introduced Tanya and Steve West of IFPD’s Volunteer Fire Company. The volunteers are currently recruiting. Their activities include providing help with traffic diversion around crash scenes and downed power lines, and tree limb removal on windy days. They organize the annual spaghetti dinners and other community events like the 4th of July Parade, Fire Safety Day at the library and Idyllwild School events. They sometimes assist in preparing grant applications. One of the members is going through EMT training. LaMont called them an “incredible support arm of the IFPD.”

The next meeting is 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 26.