By Cal Fire Being ready for wildfire starts with maintaining an adequate defensible space and by hardening your home by using fire-resistant building materials. Defensible space is the buffer you create by removing dead plants, grass and weeds. This buffer helps to keep the fire away from your home. Hardening your home means using construction…

Plans include multiple options in case of emergency Roads were not the only topic at the latest Caltrans meeting that brought the town of Idyllwild some good news. Emergency preparedness and response were topics that followed the announcement of the expanded hours for Highway 74 and future reopening of Highway 243. The road closures this…

DA still pursuing embezzlement conviction Joe Aklufi, former city attorney for Beaumont, and one of seven city officials charged with embezzlement, had his Thursday, Feb. 22, hearing continued to May 18. Aklufi is the only one of the seven who has not pleaded guilty to the effort to take more than $43 million from the…

Any illusion that fire season in the San Jacintos was beginning to wind down was quickly dashed by the last week of July. The unknowable explosion of flames threatening the populated perimeters of our sky island created a slow-motion panic for most residents as we watched the fire grow from afar. Patience and trust would…