Our community day of fire awareness, also called the Firefighter’s Muster, held this past Saturday, was gorgeous. Despite the cold rain earlier in the week, the sun was brilliant and warm, the temperature perfect.
It’s time for a Fireman’s Muster! On April 28, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., there will be a gathering of all sorts of people connected to fire prevention and suppression, at the Idyllwild Community Center site on Highway 243 and Ridgeview Drive across from the Shell Station. The day is dedicated to providing fire…
We have gotten a bit of winter recently, but we should not forget that this has been a relatively dry season, and that will have consequences. Without much moisture in plants, we can expect an early start of fire season. The Forest Service and CAL FIRE have already arranged their staffing to cope with drier…
We at the council are looking for a fire safe future that endures. In more popular terms, we seek a sustainable future, one that involves successful community action that can easily continue for generations, providing both fire safety and a healthy forest. We think this is possible. Perhaps our biggest problem is how fire prevention…
2011 was a very good year for the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council. The money came late for our grant to help homeowners with abatement but we were able to quickly put the money to use over the summer. The quality of our newsletter is good and so are our membership numbers. New people joined…
In addition to a breathtaking mountain and an excellent Fire Safe Council, I am grateful for extremely competent fire professionals who make it possible for us all to live here. We are very fortunate to have chiefs who are fine leaders. I don’t have the background to assess their abilities as a peer would, since…
What will happen to federal support for homeowner fire abatement? Judging from the words of U.S. Forest Service’s Director of Fire and Aviation Management Tom Harbour at a fire prevention conference last week, we should not expect much in the future. Last week, a bunch of us from the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council traveled…
Texas has had a terrible fire season. The state has been in a multi-year draught, and this year set a record for low rainfall. Another unwanted record was in heat, in which Texas had the highest average daily temperature through the summer of any state ever recorded. This summer was the hottest and driest Texas…
Town Crier readers will have noticed that the State Board of Forestry ruled on Aug. 22 that the Legislature approved fire fee was to be no more than $90, and that various discounts would apply. Residents who pay a local fire district fee would be given a $45 discount, and residents who could show a…
The most interesting news of the month regarding the focus of this column is the lesson of the Wallow Fire that burned earlier this summer in Eastern Arizona. Idyllwild Fire Protection District Chief Norm Walker was on the fire and is uniquely qualified to speak about it, and to our benefit he will address it…
