After only about a month, the number of confirmed oaks infested with goldspotted oak borers has surged 20 percent, to 48 from the 40 identified at July’s Mountain Area Safety Taskforce, according to Division Chief Gregg Bratcher, Cal Fire and Riverside County Fire Department forester.

Just as alarming as the rapid spread of the pest is the fear present within the community of seeking help identifying the sick and dying trees.

“I’ve heard from several sources that people don’t want to call the hotline because they’re afraid county fire will come and take the tree or trim it,” Bratcher said.

He emphasized that these actions are not permitted without the permission of the property owner. “We have no jurisdiction without permission,” he stressed.

Many inspections confirm that the oak is not infested with GSOB. In addition, Cal Fire and the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council are compiling a database of where the infected tress are or were.

Calling the hotline to report a suspicious tree provides valuable data about the current GSOB infestation if the tree truly is infested.

“Any and all data is important to tracking and understanding the pest’s behavior,” Bratcher said. Identifying an infected tree may provide information on how quickly and when the damage is occurring, where are the “hot spots,” as well as how the infestation is moving within the community.

“If the tree is damaged enough to be cut, we’ll send a section to UCR [University of California, Riverside] to analyze it,” he added.

If property owners suspect an oak tree may be infected, They should first visit the UCR’s GSOB site at http://ucanr.edu/sites/gsobinfo/. Then call Cal Fire’s GSOB hotline at 951-659-8328.

Three individuals — two former reserve Idyllwild Fire firefighters and the father of one former limited-term firefighter and one current reserve — spoke at the Aug. 12 Idyllwild Fire Protection District meeting.

Unlike local residents who praised the medical service they received this summer, these three were appalled at the district’s leadership, both at Chief Patrick Reitz and the commission.

They described several incidents of personal abuse and orders beyond the scope of good management. Further, they feel the district’s commission has ignored these charges and abetted the poor, if not abusive and inappropriate, behavior.

While the commission and chief have referred to the two former firefighters as “disgruntled,” current staff have corroborated and confirmed several of these accusations.

Frank Altamirano
Frank Altamirano was the first to speak to the commission. He was a reserve firefighter for more than two years, starting in January 2011.

Summarizing his observations during this period, Altamirano said, “There was a lot of lying, cheating and manipulating of the system.”

Two incidents involving misrepresentation were the focus of his statement. The first was an offer from Capt. Mark LaMont to sign off on Altamirano’s FireFighter 1 training. Since he had not completed all of the required courses, Altamirano objected for fear that if he worked elsewhere this falsification of training would be apparent.

The second event was when IFPD truck 621 backed into one of the ambulances while on a call. Altamirano and Reserve Brett Leesburg were with the ambulance. Firefighter Adam Rodriguez was driving the truck and LaMont was his passenger.

While removing the gurney from the ambulance, it jolted and they nearly fell. The truck had backed into the ambulance without anyone guiding it, which is against protocol.

LaMont encouraged and suggested one of the ambulance crew “take the blame for the accident,” according to Altamirano, who eventually agreed after several meetings with LaMont.

Later in the week, Altamirano said Reitz had called him after last week’s meeting but not to ask about the incidents Altamirano described. Instead, he said Reitz wanted to know with whom Altamirano had shared his letter and who invited him to the IFPD meeting.

Kyle O’Dell
Kyle O’Dell, a former paramedic intern, spoke out about his treatment at Idyllwild Fire.

“I thought I was the only one with multiple problems with Capt. LaMont. I talked to the grand jury and I came tonight,” he started. Then he described how LaMont alleged O’Dell had forged LaMont’s name on training papers and he would lose his chance to complete his paramedic training. O’Dell spent $1,100 of his own money for a forensic handwriting analysis to prove it wasn’t O’Dell’s writing but LaMont’s.

O’Dell said he shared this incident with former Chief Michael Sherman, who replied that he would stand behind LaMont.

When O’Dell finished, he told the commission, “This is a defining moment. A decision has to be made. I’m willing to answer questions.” But no one asked him anything.

Thomas Gibby
Thomas Gibby has two sons. Eric is a former reserve at IFPD and works at a city fire department in the county. Vincent, starting paramedic school, is still an IFPD reserve.

Gibby effusively praised LaMont for the firefighter training he gave the sons. But he felt misstatements and innuendos were being spread about Eric and said LaMont said his source was Thomas.

Since Thomas was the supposed “source” of these falsehoods, he felt compelled to write the commission in January. Over the next three weeks, he wrote two more letters. None of these have been directly answered, he said.

“All I wanted was a response to my seven-page letter,” he implored the commission. “In the future, the commission might want to think about how it communicates. This situation snowballed.”

Commission President Jerry Buchanan acknowledged that he had not responded to Gibby. When he received the complaint about staff, he referred it to Reitz.

“It’s board policy that the chief deals with public complaints,” Buchanan explained.

According to Buchanan, Reitz did speak to Gibby. And eventually, they did use an outside investigator to pursue it further and decided no action was needed.

Several years ago, perhaps in 2007, Casey Abrams and friends were lost and stranded off the South Ridge Trail. Idyllwild’s Lee Arnson, surveyor, and Les Walker, photographer and ceramicist, both of the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit, rescued them that night.

Abrams was in town this week because of Jazz in the Pines and stopped by the Town Crier with his rescuers to share the story that occurred when he was an Idyllwild Arts sophomore and before he was famous for being an American Idol finalist.

Abrams and his friends had decided to visit the fire outlook station on Tahquitz Peak.

“We made it to the top, looked through the windows, took some pictures and headed back,” he said. Unfortunately, getting tired and unfamiliar with the trail, they decided to take a short cut.

“It was terrible. We were lost and thought we’d have to eat ants. It was super scary,” he said, smiling. “We were down to our last drop of water, which we were saving.”

Although their phones’ batteries were dying and reception is poor in that area, the father of one of the boys did call 911 and reported them missing. This activated the RMRU unit.

First they saw a small light in the distance and as it got closer it grew; then the wind picked up a blast of air and they recognized the helicopter. “We were dancing on a rock, just happy and chillin’,” he said.

Arnson got out of the helicopter but was still a considerable distance from the boys. He had to go through all the manzanita and chinquapin — legs and arms getting scratched and cut. Finding them, he gave them water, but still had to escort them to the landing site.

“This is my favorite part,” Abrams said. As they approached the helicopter, they saw it had landed on a boulder, balancing on one skid. Arnson cautioned to go slowly, one at a time. Just then RMRU got another rescue call. So Arnson changed tactics. He and the boys just ran to the aircraft and jumped in.

“The helicopter ride was awesome,” Abrams said. They landed at Keenwild Ranger Station where the father who reported them missing was waiting to drive them home.

At the time, Abrams was just another Idyllwild youth who needed RMRU’s help. Arnson and Walker have been on many of these rescues.

But what is much rarer happened this weekend. The rescued party, Abrams, remembered, sought them out and thanked them profusely.

“You’re a big part of why I was on that show [American Idol].” Abrams said.