FIREWIRE Magazine Winter 2019: Celebrating 5 Years | Page 30

FEATURES: BEHIND THE SCENES
Excerpts from several previously published issues
SBC O FD BEHIND THE SCENES
SERVICE ABOVE AND BEYOND
By Dan Nelson
THERESA MESA
THE MASTER OF TELESTAFF
Her official title may be “office specialist,”
but the members of San Bernardino County
Fire know her as The All-Knowing, All-Seeing
Master of Telestaff: meet Theresa Mesa.
For the benefit of those readers unfamiliar, Tele-
staff it is the computer program that assists with
the scheduling of all fire suppression personnel.
And while there are automated elements to the
system, the program still requires a tremendous
amount of human input and judgement due to
the unusual demands of firefighters’ schedules. A
well-run Telestaff system is a critical component
for successful fire departments; meanwhile, mis-
takes have the potential to waste tax payer dol-
lars, over/understaff fire stations and deny chief
officers the ability to have rapid accountability
of their personnel. A clunky program also makes
it nearly impossible for firefighters to use leave
time. Theresa is, without a doubt, the person that
keeps Telestaff running smoothly at County Fire.
Theresa began her career at County Fire in Feb-
ruary of 1992. Initially, she was hired as “extra
help,” a part-time position based at Valley Divi-
sion headquarters in Fontana. Details of her job
included working at the front counter, answering
phones, issuing burn permits and sorting patient
care report forms. Within a few weeks, however,
Theresa became a full-time employee.
In 1995, Theresa was promoted to the position of
office assistant III, and in that spot her Telestaff
journey began. Eventually, in 2012, then Deputy
Chief Dan Odom asked Theresa to move her of-
fice to department headquarters at Fifth Street in
San Bernardino, where she was promoted to her
current position.
As most members of San Bernardino County Fire
know, Theresa’s job is equal parts challenging for
her and critical to our department. A typical duty
day includes arriving at her office at 7:30 a.m.
and opening up the Telestaff roster and staffing
desk mailbox. From there, Theresa makes sure
that all vacancies for the day have been filled.
She then begins the long process of entering the
countless county-wide station trades which have
been requested. This is no easy task considering
that County Fire has 53 staffed fire stations and
297 daily positions, not including special staff-
ing assignments such as event coverage and
strike teams.
After the current day’s staffing is solidified, There-
sa spends the majority of her time at work trying
30
FIREWIRE • Five Year Anniversary
CORNY ROBINSON
“Without question, Theresa is one of the strongest
members of our Fifth Street team. She continues
to work tirelessly to ensure the district is staffed
constantly and correctly. Her adaptive nature with our
constantly changing needs has buoyed us through our
toughest times in maintaining operational readiness. On
behalf of the entire executive staff team, THANK YOU T!”
to “get ahead of the game.” This includes filling
leave requests up to 35 days in advance, ensur-
ing coverage for special events, back-filling va-
cancies created by folks attending training class-
es, covering department business requests and
of course handling force hires. (Again, if you’re not
familiar with firefighter scheduling: these occur
when a vacancy has to be filled and there are no
off-duty personnel signed up to work; personnel
who are currently on duty but scheduled to be
going home are then “forced,” or held over, and
sent to occupy that seat for the day.)
As if that isn’t enough, she is also in charge of fill-
ing records requests from lawyers and insurance
companies, and for taking minutes at certain
meetings held at Fifth Street.
When asked about her favorite part of working
here, Theresa answered without hesitation that
it’s being with the people who make up the
County Fire family. Theresa takes pride in helping
suppression personnel with their Telestaff issues,
and she also enjoys the people with whom she
works at headquarters. She says that the most
difficult part of her job is not being able to pre-
vent force hires or being unable to fill someone’s
leave request. It’s disheartening to her to know
that someone in her fire family is going to be dis-
appointed because of a staffing shortage, but as
all suppression personnel know, it’s just part of
the job.
-Deputy Chief John Chamberlin
ALISHA
FORRESTER
Alisha Forrester was a Fire Rescue
EMS dispatcher for two years prior
to becoming a dispatcher. Previous-
ly employed at Desert Valley Hos-
pital in Victorville as an equipment
and materials manager, Alisha is
no stranger to emergency scenes.
She got into dispatching as a way,
she says, to “make a difference in
peoples’ lives and to help them in
their times of need...This job isn’t for
everyone,” Alisha says. “And it can be
hard at times. But I love what I do!”
Diane has been on the job for
several years and was recognized
for her efforts that resulted in a
patient surviving a cardiac arrest
which resulted in a life saved. Di-
ane resides in the city of Redlands
and enjoys spending time with her
three daughters.
DIANE
CHARLTON
Theresa was asked what can Local 935 mem-
bers do to make her job easier. Her answer was
two-fold. First, members can email requests or
questions to the staffing desk, rather than calling
her or sending emails to her department email
address. The second thing we can do is be pa-
tient. Theresa and the members of the staffing
desk will handle all staffing issues in the correct
priority order.
Off duty, Theresa enjoys spending time with her
mom and sister. One of their favorite annual
activities is visiting the Festival of Lights at the
Mission Inn in Riverside. A self-described “home-
body,” Theresa loves to read, especially works in
the “True Crime” genre.
Cornelius Robinson loves his job! “Corny,”as he is known throughout our department, is
employed as a fire mechanic at County Fire, currently assigned to the vehicle maintenance
shop on D Street in San Bernardino. As a 20-year veteran of our department, Corny
has seen a lot, learned a lot—and most importantly shared his vast knowledge and
experience with anyone who has wanted to learn. The motto he lives by at work is,
“Teach what you know, learn what you don’t.”
ALIX
ANDERSON
Sometimes some creativity is re-
quired in the service of others.
Alix Anderson recounts an incident
where County Fire units were having
difficulty locating a residence in the
desert community of Baldy Mesa. An
elderly female had called 911 with
respiratory difficulties, and finding
her location was proving difficult.
Anderson used Google maps and a
description of the house from Zillow,
of all things, to help direct the crews
to her location. The patient had
suffered cardiac arrest; County Fire
crews were able to revive the patient
to regain a pulse and respirations.
Corny got his start in the heavy equipment maintenance world while work-
ing as a bus mechanic for the Pomona School District. From there he went
on to be a mechanic for the City of San Bernardino, maintaining police
cars. In 1998, he left the city to become a fire mechanic for County Fire.
During his first two years here, Corny was assigned as a field mechanic
before being placed at the shop, where he has worked ever since. Corny
is also very proud of his eight-year stint with the SBCoFD’s dozer program,
where he conducted training classes for both mechanics and firefighters
wishing to be part of the system. For Corny, the best part of the assignment was
responding to wildland fires as part of the dozer team.
Family life is very important to Corny. He is proud to say that he has been married to
his wife, Isabella, for 30 years. That is truly something special. The couple has three
grown children: Cornelius Jr. (30), Jeremiah (28), and Mariah (22). When the family
is all together they enjoy spending time camping and going to the beach. Corny also
enjoys both working and metal forging in his spare time.
SOKIE JIMENEZ
One of the downsides of working for a fire department which
is constantly growing is that the suppression personnel don’t
get the chance to meet all of the incredible people behind
the scene who keep our department running smoothly. Sokie
Jimenez is one such talented person. For those of you who don’t know, Sokie is a fire
mechanic who works at
our shop on D Street in San
Bernardino.
Prior to joining the County Fire family, Sokie was a heavy equipment mechan-
ic for CL Farris Sand and Gravel Company. He got his start, however, in the
equipment maintenance industry in the Marine Corps in 1979, where he was
trained as an “Advanced Diesel Mechanic.” At one point, during his Marine
Corps career, Sokie was fortunate enough to be assigned to Camp Pendleton.
He joyfully recalls going body surfing at Del Mar Beach with his fellow Marines
after long days at work. Sokie is proud to be a Marine, and he credits the
Corps for the great training he received during his four years of service. to send to their customers because it’s too expensive to warehouse all of these
items. Many parts must be ordered from the part suppliers on an “as needed” basis.
One of the aspects that Sokie enjoys the most about being a fire mechanic for
County Fire is the constant challenge of troubleshooting and then repairing
our equipment. He refers to the troubleshooting aspect of the job as a “brain
teaser.” As for the most challenging part of the job, “Receiving parts,” he said.
“We used to keep lots of parts on stock, but now we don’t and it is frustrating
when we have to wait on parts to arrive in order to finish a job.” He went on to
explain that even our apparatus manufactures can’t keep spare parts on hand
PAT
MULHOLLAND
On his days off, Sokie enjoys spending time with his family. He is married to his wife
Christy, who works as a librarian for the Redlands School District. Sokie also speaks
proudly of his three sons. His son Sean is a floor supervisor for the Mission Compa-
ny and will be relocating to Kansas City soon. Meanwhile, son Jonathan is currently
training to be a lineman in California. His oldest son, Brian, tragically passed away in
2002, at the age of 18. Sokie and Christy also have a 15-month-old granddaughter
that they love spending time with. The Jimenez family enjoys riding bikes and playing
cards and board games.
In closing, Sokie would like all members of our department to stop by the shop and
say “Hi”. He and the other veteran mechanics miss the “good ole days” when all
County Fire employees knew each other.
The sight of mechanic Pat Mulholland’s mobile repair
vehicle pulling into your station usually brings a sense of
relief to the entire crew; knowing he’s on the job means
whatever can be done to repair your vehicle will indeed
be done. Assigned to the high desert, Pat has built a rep-
utation across all of County Fire for dedication to his craft
and commitment to the firefighters who operate “his” rigs.
On top of all that, he has shown time and again at annual
Christmas parties that mechanics can indeed dance!
ERIC
JOHNSON
Captain Dan Nelson is a FIREWIRE assistant editor. He is currently assigned to Station 32 in Needles.
County Fire mechanic Eric Johnson con-
ducts the annual opacity emissions test on
OES311 in the city of Victorville. Local 935
values the efforts of the specially-certified
fire apparatus mechanics who work count-
less hours behind the scenes keeping the
fleet of over 700 vehicles response-ready
and safe to operate.
Winter 2019 • FIREWIRE
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