FIREWIRE Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 40

4 DIVISION news Covering the Cities of Needles and 29 Palms, the Town of Yucca Valley and seven unincorporated areas on the eastern edge of the county By Zack Taylor and Ryan Beckers LABOR REP: GRANT KOVACOVICH TOM MARSHAL ASSISTANT CHIEF Mid rise training i n the city of 29 palms. In 2016 this city annexed into the county fire district. SBCoFD Local 935 Firefighters battle a recent structure fire in the town of Yucca Valley. HOT TOPICS • FROM ACROSS THE SOUTH DESERT • Progress continues on constructing and staffing a new Station 18 at Havasu Landing. Funding would come from county discretionary funds. • Needles Station 32 members traveled to Marina Del Rey for a week-long marine firefighting course taught by Los Angeles County Fire instructors. Our members are working with Division 11 training cadre to create a boat operations program. In addi- tion, our sheriff’s department has assisted with the training, and with sharing info from their own program. • Captain Scott Roberts performs a 360-degree walk-around during a recent fire in Division 4. 40 FIREWIRE • Spring 2018 San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor James Ramos, the Yucca Valley town council and County Fire met recently to discuss construction of a new Station 41. Potential locations are being identified using the Deccan software; check out the article on this program on page 9. FF/PM Nathan Easley has been deployed as a flight medic for a tour of duty expected to last six months. Carrying a County Fire flag, he plans to send back photos of him with his military crew. • A rash of structure fires has struck the south desert; the one good news with this is our social media/GoPro camera program has captured videos which have been collectively viewed close to 90,000 times on Local 935’s Instagram. • We will be attending the season opening game Monday for Yucca Valley’s Miracle League, where 935 members “buddy up” with a special needs child and help them play softball. 935 will donate $1000 for uniforms. • One County Fire strike team and hand crew assisted Division 3 re- sources at a vegetation fire near 29 Palms in an historic grove of palm trees planted by Native American tribe members. The story is that a palm would be planted each time a son was born; 29 were growing when the town was named years lat- er. Numerous palms were saved; the fire was determined to be arson and an arrest was made on scene. • Engineer Aaron Comstock was chosen by union reps to join the TeleStaff committee. Custom woodworking compliments of Firefighter/Paramedic Cody Underwood. Captain Ron Feldman celebrated his final weeks before retirement! Feldman dedicated 31 years with the county. 4 DIVISION news Spring 2018 • FIREWIRE 41