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DIVISION news
By Ryan Beckers
Covering the City of Hesperia and eight
unincorporated areas of the High Desert
LABOR REP:
BOB MACK (RJM)
RON WALLS
ASSISTANT CHIEF
The A-shift crew from Station 14 in Wrightwood recently completed low angle rope rescue training.
HOT TOPICS
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FROM HESPERIA AND THE
NORTH DESERT
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After removal of some static asbestos in the apparatus
bay at Hesperia Station 302, new drywall and lighting
has been re-installed.
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FIREWIRE • Spring 2018
The long-awaited remodel for Station 8 in Lucerne Valley
has been awarded to a contractor and should be beginning
shortly. The project will add two additional bedrooms,
required ADA compliance and infrastructure upgrades,
relocation and resizing of the septic tanks and the resizing
and balancing of the HVAC systems. An extractor will be
moved from Station 7 on the outskirts of town to Station 8
as part of the project.
In Hesperia, the move towards annexation of the city’s fire
services to County Fire marches on. This spring the city
council voted 5-0 to send the proposal to the Local Area
Formation Commission (LAFCO) for review. Assistant Chief
Ron Walls has been keeping the process in line—he calls
shepherding the process “like bumper bowling, you just
keep nudging it to keep it on track.” On March 20, a major
hurdle was cleared when the County Board of Supervisors
and Hesperia’s city council approved a property tax arrangement which
will redirect funds from Hesperia’s Fire Protection District to County Fire.
• A contract has been approved and awarded for the demolition and
removal of the buildings on the site of the shuttered Station 301 in
Hesperia, with work set to begin in early May. Hesperia Public Works will
come in afterwards to break up the concrete slabs and foundations.
• At Hesperia Station 302, the apparatus bay has been drywalled and new
lighting installed. This, after a required asbestos removal in the bay. The
station is inadequate for the number of personnel that are assigned to it.
Preliminary planning has already begun to create solutions for a better
work environment after the annexation is finalized.
• Hesperia Fire Station 304 is also bursting at the seams with more
personnel assigned to the station than it was originally designed to
house. While perhaps still a couple years away, preliminary planning for a
remodel to improve these conditions is also ongoing.
• Like the other divisions, the First Watch implementation has been
progressing. With a renewed awareness of turnout times there has been a
noticeable improvement. Local 935 VP Jeff Allen has been watching the
times periodically and has been working with management.
Station 302 recently hosted a group of Chinese exchange
students for a station tour and a fire safety demonstration.
SBCoFD Reach Air H325 is proving to be a valuable public/private partnership.
It is always a pleasure working across jurisdictional bound-
aries with members of Local 1014 LACoFD Air Operations on
the Angeles Crest Highway near Wrightwood.
LASD Copter 5 prepares to transport a
trauma victim near Wrightwood.
Spring 2018 • FIREWIRE
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