06 Newsletter Fall 2011.pdf

San Luis Obispo Unit Fall 2011

CALFIRE/San Luis Obispo County Fire November 2011

Issue No. 6

Battalions 1, 2, 2

Battalions 3, 4, 6 3, 4

Pre-Fire/Prevention 5

Personnel/Awards 7

CDF History - First State Forest Ranger

8, 9

In Remembrance of Chief James (Jim) Dulitz

9

Spanish Ranch 10

Prevention Events 11

Retiree Happenings 12

EMS 6

More Unit Happenings 13

Baby Announcements/ MDA Fundraiser

14

Inside this issue:

Message from Chief Lewin

As we begin the annual fall race between the wetting rains and the drying winds, I want to thank you for the hard work this fire season. Despite re-duced staffing, you have done your jobs.

The economy continues to elude economists’ best estimates; therefore the future is still difficult to predict. It is like being on a fire with erratic winds where the only thing we can depend on is change. The same goes for this rocky economy and the effect it has on the Department’s budget; we just don’t know where we will be next year so we prepare for the unexpected.

I am very pleased with the focus many of you have on improved firefighter health. I hear and see firefighters working out and eating better. This is how it should be. A firefighter is an athlete. We must be in top condition so when called upon we are able to safely take care of the emergency. We all come in different sizes and shapes, but if we maximize what we have we are all better for it. Working out each day needs to be our ritual, our habit, our re-sponsibility. Likewise we need to look at how we treat our bodies. It worries me that so many of you use tobacco. While most do not smoke anymore, many still use smokeless tobacco.*

We should all be proud of the Type 2 US&R and Swift Water/Flood Search and Rescue designation our Technical Rescue Team has earned from Cal EMA. Our Unit has long been a leader in rescue. This designation further thrusts our Department as leaders in all hazard emergency response. Thank you to Chief Crawford, Captain Cameron, and Captain Juarez for your effort in attaining this achievement.

Thanksgiving is around the corner; I want to convey that I am thankful for the opportunity to work with all of you.

This is what we do. This is who we are.

* http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chewing-tobacco/CA00019

Station 10 Here on the beautiful North Coast, Station 10 continues with “Operation 1970’s.” Our goal this year has been to update the station and bring it squarely into the 70’s. To that end, modern amenities such as a garbage disposal, tile counters, new cabinets, and modern electrical connections have been added to the kitchen. We also installed new water lines and gas lines to replace the 60 year old lines that had come to the end of their life. This also allowed us to abandon all the leaky pipes in the station and connect directly to the sewer. Unfortunately, by doing so, we have lost the “grease trap” tradition that all personnel looked forward to attending to several times throughout the month.

As we already know, we are lucky enough to work for a department that has some talented people. Special thanks to Steve Cham-bers, Captain Mangels and Crew 2, HFEO’s Miller and Bungarz, FFII’s La Rock and Jauregui and FAE Ramler. This project would not have gone as well as it has if it weren’t for their help.

Rocky Butte is also getting some much needed attention. New culverts and road work are in process and it is hoped that it will be completed by the rainy season.

Station 12 Chay Nance is the newest member of Company 12. He is eager to begin his training task book and to respond with Company 12.

Sheriffs Day at Madonna Inn was a big success, over 2000 people attended. We had a large crowd enjoy our "Vehicle" rescue tool demonstration. San Luis City FD also assisted in the demonstration. A special thank you to "San Luis Salvage Yard" for their continued support by providing the two vehicles used in the demo.

Pumpkin Update: Between the residence and the shop is Company 12's pumpkin garden. PCF Andy Carlin provided the seeds and direction for care of the pumpkins. Several of the pumpkins are well over 100 pounds and will continue to grow for another month. Visitors are welcomed. Our pump-

kin weighed 331 pounds! The winner from Santa Ynez weighed just over 700 lbs. We also entered 2 in the "Most Beautiful" category and 1 in the "Most unusual" - we had a good show-ing, fun and work for our rookie year! We also made KSBY news on Wednesday October 19, 2011 A portion of our Company members are below and the entire Company made the pumpkin project a success, including some help from others on the Station 12 grounds. More information at: www.ksby.com/videos/the-local-race-for-the-greatest-pumpkin/

Station 15 Hazard abatement has been completed for the 2011 year with 6,089 parcels in Los Osos and all having been visually inspected the first two weeks of June. After notifying property owners in need of corrections and a subsequent re-inspection, there are only twelve properties that are still in violation. The process now becomes more litigious and time consuming with 100% compliance our goal.

Station 15 South Bay Fire is actively hiring new Reserve Firefighters. We have more than fifteen applicants as of this printing. The next phase is the physical agility test was scheduled for October 8th at the station and the interview process on October 9th. We antici-pate five openings at this time with the possibility of a few more through 2012.

Battalion 1 - 3411 ~ Phill Veneris

Page 2 San Luis Obispo Uni t Issue No. 6

Station 21 staff recently attended Federal Air Administration (FAA) required live fire training at the “state of the art” training facility located at Salt Lake City International Airport. Live fire training is required annually by the FAA. The training is performed on Salt Lake City Fire’s 12 million dollar airplane training prop. Training consisted of hand line operations on ground fires, engine fires, wheel fires, and interior attack firefighting in the morning. After lunch the focus was on ARFF vehi-cle operations. Because Salt Lake City ARFF training program has two Oshkosh Striker 3000 ARFF vehicles, we are able to train on one vehicle and two vehicle fire attack operations. This is very helpful as we have the ability to “cross staff” our second crash here, when we have two ARFF qualified operators on duty.

Battalion 2 - 3412 ~ Bill Fisher (Submitted by Dale Rodriguez)

PCF's: Chay Nance, Jimmy Harris, Stephen Yoder and Andy Carlin

Battalion 6—3416 Steve Reeder


Station 62 Congrats to our three new PCF rookies, Nicholi Mackewicz, James Blattler, and Alex Silver. They successfully passed a series of in-formal and formal interviews and were selected by Company 62 from a pool of 7 candidates. Their rookie probation starts October 1st and will last 6 months. PCF Matt Mokhtarian is now a full driver/operator for E262 and BS62. PCF John Hunter got a permanent firefighter job with Kern County Fire Department and started the Academy September 26. Congrats to Travis Robertson and Michele Dyck for obtaining per-manent Fire Apparatus Engineer positions at Station 62. We also welcome FAE Enrique Ornelas from RRU. We would like to thank Roger Rinehart for his great work and contributions during his assignment in Battalion 6 and wish him well in his next adventure in Battalion 1. The film crews have completed filming operations.

FC Kirk Petrie, FAE Roger Rinehart, and PCF Andrew Lawrence had a CPR save on the Bob Jones Trail. The patient was found in full cardiac arrest with an unknown downtime. A retired Alameda County Firefighter started CPR until E62 arrived. The patient was released from the hospital and is now recovering at home. Station 63 Training: There has been considerable amount of training going on at station 63. Captain Grundler has been working with the film crew and training on cliff rescue, which includes repelling and setting up hauling systems in the Shell Beach area. Captain Gorman just returned from Sacramento from a week-long conference. The training included bomb explosive detection and handling along with working with many state agencies on Hazardous Materials. All of the stations in Battalion 6 along with Station 21 had a drill at Pismo City Yard. The drill was on Confined Space Rescue. This included setting up ladder rising systems, air monitoring and rescue of injured employees. Out of County Response: Engine 3470 was on several fires out of County for about three weeks. The engine was assigned to several fires including the “Complex Fire” that had several fires that were started by dry lightning. While the engine was assigned to these fires the station was back filled and covered.

Battalion 6 - 3416 ~ Steve Reeder

Battalion 3 - 3413 ~ Steve Crawford Battalion 3’s news is covered in other corresponding sections.

Battalion 4 - 3414 ~ Tim Eckles Battalion 4’s news is covered in other corresponding sections.

The training prop is propane fueled, computer controlled and has a grid of sensors that when cooled with agent shut down the propane as each sensor is cooled. The prop is controlled by a person in an overlooking tower and by internal operated controls when performing interior attack. This allows the controller to identify a safety problem and activate an emergency shutdown should there be a prob-lem during interior operations. The interior operations are very realistic. The prop is life like and set up like the interior of an airplane, including a cockpit with controls. Staying low is a must as rolling fire runs across the ceiling. You do not stand up in this prop unless you want to get burned!

We are now proud to announce our newest engineers have completed a forty-hour ARFF class along with numerous additional hours of hands on training here at Station 21 and completed the live fire training requirements in Salt Lake City. Congratulations go out to FAE’s Hatch, Vesterfelt and Roe, our newest Crash qualified employees. Also attending the training were captains West, Cameron, Rodriguez, FAE Campbell (who became crash qualified last year) and FAE Medic Brent Lee who is working toward becoming crash qualified.

Battalion 6 Continued... Station 64 Battalion 6 continues to work closely with the Five Cities Fire Authority to maintain a high level of interagency cooperation and com-patibility. Training drills are being held quarterly with each Station taking the lead on a training topic. These drill topics vary from Basic Hose Evolutions to Full Scale Technical Rescue Operations. This training has been very useful to help identify compatibility issues with equipment and fire ground operations before needed during an emergency incident. We would like to congratulate Reserve Fire Fighters Brad Paige (Ventura County), Carmine Terracciano (Ventura County) and Josh Snider (Sacramento City) for successful completion of the hiring process and appointment to Firefighter. Station 64 has completed the selection and hiring of 6 Reserve Firefighters, please congratulate Austin Watts, Jeff Sears, Mark Wag-oner, Peter Brinkerhoff, Jason Dupere and Derek McLeod on their new assignment. The Pismo Beach Firefighters Association has been very active this year participating in the Pismo Beach Farmers Markets, hosting fundraising events for local foster children and supporting many other agency events and fundraisers. Fuel modification and VMP work in Battalion 6 Avila Valley has been very successful in creating fire safe council focus groups which have completed several successful pro-jects. The project scope in all areas has focused on clearance around structures, clearance along ingress/egress roads and creation of Temporary Refuge Areas. Collectively our battalion projects have modified over 2,000 acres, chipped over 45,000 tons, homeown-ers have contributed $240,000 of in-kind donations and $76,500 in cash contributions. These projects were supported by $286,000 in State level Fire Safe Council Grant funding. There are five project areas where this work has been completed. The first in our battal-ion was the Avila Valley Focus Group which has completed their 5 year plan; is now educated and self sufficient with a special as-sessment funding to support future fire defense improvement work. See Canyon is the area where we are currently completing grant funded work and initiating the See/Davis fuelbreak. Baron and Squire Canyon (east of 101) are areas that have recently submitted 5 year plans to accomplish enough work to allow them to maintain fire defense improvements in the future. Pismo has two focus groups one in The Heights and one in The Highlands. Both of these areas have also received local grant funding for goats and small scale common area clearances. The homeowners in the Pismo Heights conduct fundraising annually to fund ongoing fire defense improvement projects. The Long Canyon VMP (Price Canyon to Shell Beach) is in the planning and preparatory stages. For more information you can contact Captain Laurie Donnelly who manages the focus groups in the Avila Valley, and Captain Jason Potts who manages the Pismo Focus Groups. Our Cuesta Crews, private contractors, and area homeowners have done great work to help fire-fighters and civilians survive wildfire! Administration/Prevention During the summer tourist season our population swells by an average of 15,000 people every weekend. We are second only to the Hearst Castle as the largest tourist draw for San Luis Obispo County, attracting over two million people annually. We also play host to the two largest special events in SLO County; The Pismo Beach Car Show & the 4th of July Fireworks Show. This year's attendance estimates for these two special events were: Car Show-125,000 and 4th of July 80-100,000 people. These wel-comed visitors keep our lifeguards, technical rescue teams, reserve firefighters and of course the men and women on the big red fire engine hopin' from one call to the next all summer long. Also to ensure these temporary residents are safe and sound all 37 hotels are inspected annually from top to bottom by Fire Prevention Specialist, Tina Rose, with help from engine company and fire preven-tion bureau personnel. Yes, it's a big job and (we didn't even mention Shark Week) but Battalion 6 is up for the challenge.



Pre-Fire/Prevention

Fire Marshal's Office –

As some of you may know Laura Brown has been out of the office for some time and is appreciative of the help she has received so far. If you would like to help support Laura with meals, donations or just your time please contact the Prevention office.

Doing inspections at the station level and forwarding documentation to Prevention helps out our ISO score and pro-vides you the opportunity to establish a relationship with local facilities. Last month you received new 2010 Fire & Life Safety Inspection Forms that will capture the changes in the latest version of the California Fire Code (CFC). Remem-ber by visiting our website you can access the entire CFC for any other questions www.calfireslo.org/preventionpermits.html or just give us a call.

This time of the year wildland fires can be started by construction or industrial activity in the wildland, the Industrial Operations Fire Prevention Field Guide provides an overall manual for outdoor activity. The guide is available online and can provide a great opportunity to review some of the basics when it comes to preventing wildland fires.

Local Prevention News:

There are many new projects being reviewed in the Prevention office and as always we value your input and enthusi-asm to be involved:

Two large solar projects proposed for California Valley have been approved by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. If you are in the area you will notice a lot of activity as the projects could inject 300-600 workers a day into the valley.

The Special Event Ordinance has been approved by the Planning Commission and were brought to the Board of Su-pervisors the first week in October. Tents are often a part of special events, Chapter 24 of the 2010 California Fire Code can help you with the tent inspections, a web link to the code and requirements can be found at www.calfireslo.org.

County Fire HAZ MAT:

We welcome new team members Denny O’Neil, Morgan Partridge and Jordan Streder to the team after completing 4 weeks of grant funded training at CSTI. We are always looking for help and if you are interested please join us on the 3rd Wednesday of every month to see what the Haz Mat Team is all about.

It is important to remind property owners to beware of unapproved activities occurring on their property. Illegal dump-ing of Hazardous Waste costs property owner’s and the tax payer’s money to remove the waste and repair the dam-age to the environment. During your contacts with the public remind them to report any suspicious activity on private or public lands. As you can see in the pictures this occurs often and can be prevented by a simple phone call to local law enforcement.

Emergency Medical Services (Submitted by Tim Wilcox)

Zoll See-Thru CPR® Coming soon to a CAL FIRE station near you is a new approach to CPR with a new technology that filters out compression artifact on the ECG heart monitor, reducing the need to interrupt com-pressions to see underlying organized rhythms during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

This exclusive ZOLL defibrillator technology allows the professional rescuer to analyze a patient's heart rhythm while continuous CPR is in progress and monitor the heart rhythm to determine the ap-propriate time to analyze or stop cardiopulmonary resuscitation to check the ECG. A new “Third” pad is applied over the patient’s sternum, allowing ECG’s and AED’s to measure effectiveness of compressions.

Just like the defib pads that we currently stock, the new See-Thru CPR pads for the Zoll AED are compatible with the Zoll monitors carried by San Luis Ambulance. These pads, when placed cor-rectly, give the rescuer proper hand position on the adult patient. The AED will give audio prompts for proper cadence and depth of compressions. Please restock defib pads and other supplies from San Luis Ambulance when the patient is transported.

All SLO County Fire ALS Stations are now using this new tool with great promise of improved level of care during field resuscitation. All BLS Stations will implement the technology sometime in 2012. More information to follow at the upcoming Company Officer Academy.


Promotions, Transfers, Accomplishments, Etc...

Congratulations ~ Well Done! The State of California Conservation Corps presented Ventura Camp Fire Captain Patrick Easley with a “Recognition of Service” certificate on August 27, 2011. Captain Easley has helped the Corps develop into the out-standing program it is today and has positively affected the lives of the young people who have come to the CCC’s. His time in the program exhibits com-mitment to youth, fire education and

safety of staff. The CCC – Camarillo Center commended Cap-tain Easley for noteworthy service and commitment.

Congratulations Captain Easley!

Awards and Recognition (Submitted by Chief Lewin—official photographer)

Congratulations to the following:

Permanent FFII Medic:

Roger Rinehart

Permanent Fire Apparatus Engineer’s:

John Byrne (B-2)

Jamie Samano (B-4)

Ben Graves (B-4)

Travis Robertson (B-6)

Stephanie Dininni (B-2)

Limited Term Fire Apparatus Engineer’s:

Christopher Rylance

John McCormick

Firefighter II’s (for this winter). Each has done an outstanding job for SLU through the years.

Morgan Rutledge Station 10

Scott Johnson Station 10

Mark Bailey Station 11

Eddie Bianchi Station 11

Daniel LaRock Station 11

Josh Block Station 63

Chad Cooper Station 63

Chris Campmas Station 63

Jordan Streder Station 36

Captain Grundler received an award from the San Luis Obispo Elks Lodge on October 20, 2011. Bill was selected by unanimous vote by the San Luis Obispo Unit Chief Officers’ for his work in promoting fire-fighter fitness and health. His award was presented by Chief Reeder, Assemblyman Achadjian, Senator Blakeslee, County Supervisors’ Hill and Teixeira, representative from Congresswoman Capps’ office and the Exalted Ruler from the Elks Lodge. He was also joined by his girlfriend, Danica Boyle.


On September 9, 2011 the Cuesta College Central Coast Paramedic Program graduated four CAL FIRE employees!

CONGRATULATIONS to Nathan Smith, Dustin Barnett, Christopher Rhodes and Bruce Meyers

(Chief Lewin in the middle)

If you look at the photo gallery on the wall at the South Bay Training Center, you will see a picture of Al Gossett, State Forest Ranger (Unit Chief). Gossett served from 1930 until his retirement in 1958, and is recognized as San Luis Obispo’s first CDF Ranger. But this story is not about Gossett, but of a man hired as a State Forest Ranger in 1922, five years prior to the creation of CDF.

In 1919, the Weeks Law was enacted by Congress which provided Federal funding to those states which had an organized wildland fire prevention and suppression system. California’s State Forestry Service, as it was known as then, consisted of a Board of Forestry appointed by the Governor, a State Forester, a Deputy and an Assistant State Forester and a clerk. There was no field operation at all except for the system of Voluntary Fire Wardens. California, through the State Forester and Board of Forestry, quickly drafted legisla-tion which would qualify the State for Weeks Law assistance. California made a special appropriation of $23,000 for fire suppression and prevention and the Feds gave the State $3,500 for salaries of field rangers. That first year, four seasonal rangers were hired at $125 per month. In 1920, ten rangers were hired, and in 1921 the number was increased to twenty one. Which counties received a ranger was determined by politics, of course, but also by the cooperative funding provided for fire protection by the individual counties. Those counties willing to appropriate money for wildland protection were given priority for state participation. It should be noted that some counties were happy to keep the State clear out of their affairs.

The summer of 1921 was a disastrous fire season in San Luis Obispo County. The Pilitas Fire, which started on what is now the Eagle Ranch west of Santa Margarita, consumed nearly 1,000,000 acres and burned into Creston and Las Pilitas Districts. There was much local controversy over the County’s ability to provide fire protection: Lack of command and control caused chaos on every large fire, a dispute over pay for pick-up labor firefighters used on the Pilitas Fire almost caused a riot in front of the courthouse and the United States Forest Service sent the County a bill ($1,739) for suppression costs on private land. To deal with these issues, 5th District County Supervisor Black was appointed as a committee of one to confer with State and Federal authorities and examine methods to protect property from wildfires. The result was a cooperative agreement, entered into in March of 1922, between the County and the State. The agreement included a State provided forest ranger and a $3,059 appropriation. The County appropriated $2,776 for “labor, transportation, and supplies.” The term of the agreement was from June 1 through October 31, and the ranger’s salary was set at $150 per month. On June 1, 1922 John Alan Reid went to work as the San Luis Obispo State District Ranger. A total of twenty two rangers were hired in the State that year.

Little is known about Reid. He was a California native and born in 1880. The 1918 California Handbook of Forest Protection lists him as a Voluntary State Fire Warden in San Luis Obispo County. It shows him as a United States Forest Service employee with a resi-dence in Paso Robles. He was most likely a seasonal Forest Guard, probably working out of the Pozo Ranger Station. Reid was also a farrier and it is possible his work with the Forest Service included packing and caring for the mules and horses assigned to the San Luis District of the then Santa Barbara National Forest. Perhaps he was laid off by the Forest Service, or maybe the $150 per month lured him away from his lower paying Fed job. Reid’s name shows up occasionally in the local newspapers in stories of local fires. Ranger Reid didn’t have much to work with. The protection system in the County at that time was bare bones: Each of the County Supervisors acted as the Fire Chief of their respective districts. Four seasonal (four months) County Fire Wardens were paid $100 per month and there were a dozen or so Voluntary State Fire Wardens throughout the County. The County had one Model T Ford road-ster with delivery body and tools as its only “fire truck.” One can imagine that Reid had quite a time organizing the few men and re-sources available to him in an environment that was not overly friendly towards “government men.” A June 29, 1922 article in the San Luis Obispo Tribune introduced Ranger Reid to the citizens of San Luis Obispo: “J.A. Reid of Paso Robles was in town yesterday. Mr. Reid has recently been appointed head of the fire protection districts of the county and Paso Robles is to be the headquarters of the district. Mr. Reid is now engaged in appointing men who are to represent fire fighting units in every section of the county. The principle localities where forest fires are likely to occur to be considered first. By means of the fire fighting units it will be possible in the event of big fires like those in the Creston district last year, to gather a sufficient number of men to combat the flames, and the leaders of the units are empowered to secure other assistance if necessary. Mr. Reid states that under the state law no one is permitted to build fires for the purpose of clearing land, etc. without having first secured a permit from his office, or from one of his deputies. No backfiring is to be allowed except by those persons authorized by him.” Those statements, no doubt, were not taken favorably by most of the County’s rural population who were used to burning their lands most anytime they damn well pleased.

These early rangers were given a lot of leeway and flexibility. There was no duty statement and very few policies. The ranger’s re-sponsibilities were plain and simple: organize and supervise the county’s wildland fire protection system. The requirements were few: 1) Some one with a telephone must be kept aware of the ranger’s whereabouts at all times; 2) Under no circumstances could the ranger be out of his assigned county at any time; 3) Hours of work and time off were non-issues; rangers were expected to be avail-able 24/7 throughout their employment. Most rangers never saw their boss, the State Forester. Virtually all communications between them was done by letter or telegram.

Reid was hired again in 1923 for another five months (June through October). This year the County increased the appropriation to $9,530 and the State budgeted $5,000 for ranger salary, ranger expenses and direct suppression costs in San Luis Obispo County. An accounting summary of Reid’s salary and expenditures for 1923 is shown below. This report, showing County and State expendi-tures was compiled by the State Forester’s office in Sacramento and indicates, to some extent, the tasks that Reid performed, includ-ing renting a horse and hauling a broke-down fire truck. Note that he was able to keep his expenditures way under budget!

The agreement between the State and the County was not renewed in 1924 and this ended the short termed era of the seasonal State District Forest Ranger in San Luis Obispo. There is no record of the reason this arraignment was terminated. Possibly the

Story from the Vault… SLO County First State Forest Ranger Submitted by Retired Deputy Chief Dan Dulitz


Story from the Vault ~ Continued... County was not pleased with the performance of the State. A more likely scenario is that politics played a role. Santa Barbara County, who had not previously been assigned a State ranger, had one on its books beginning in 1924. It seems probable that the State For-ester shifted the position from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara based on political pressures. It is also possible that a greater fire risk and fire history in Santa Barbara caused the shift. In any event, San Luis Obispo County dealt with the loss of the State Ranger by entering into an agreement with the United States For-est Service in 1924 which authorized the local Forest Service ranger to expend County Gen-eral Fund monies for “the employment of men during fire emergencies on private lands”.

John Alan Reid died of complications from rheumatic fever on June 2, 1926 at the age of 45, four years after his appointment as San Luis Obispo County’s “first” State Forest Ranger. He is buried in the I.O.O.F. cemetery in Paso Robles.


Retired San Luis Obispo Unit Chief Jim Dulitz was born in 1922 in the Atascadero Hospital, and passed away Friday, August 19, 2011, at his home in Atascadero. His parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents had settled in the newly formed Atascadero Colony in 1918 after having moved from their Idaho cattle ranch. Jim attended school in Atascadero, where he excelled in sports and his studies. When not in school, he exercised his passion for the outdoors. He caught steelhead from the local creeks and hunted in the canyons and oak woodlands. He earned money by selling furs from his trapline to Sears Roebuck and by doing odd jobs on farms and ranches.

As a youngster, he learned to ride and train horses - he never lost the pleasure of being on a horse. He broke and traded horses throughout his high school years and never much thought of being anything other than a cowboy. In 1939, he hired on as a seasonal firefighter for the California Di-vision of Forestry. This sparked his interest in another occupation, that of a wildland firefighter. After high school, Jim attended San Luis Obispo Junior College in preparation for Forestry School. World War II interrupted his college attendance and Jim enlisted in the U.S. Army Air

Corps. He trained as a B-24 bomber pilot and was assigned to the 783rd Bomb Squadron in Pantanella, Italy. Just before shipping overseas, he married his one and only girlfriend since grammar school, Sylvia McGhee. Jim and his crew flew combat missions into German occupied Europe until the end of the War.

After returning home, Jim enrolled at U.C. Berkeley, where he majored in Forestry and minored in fathering his first son, Dan. Af-ter graduation, he went to work for the U.S. Forest Service and soon after, took a job as an Assistant State Forest Ranger with the California Division of Forestry in Porterville, Calif., where his second son, Dave, was born. Jim held many assignments throughout the state with CDF, but was able to spend more than half of his 35-year career as the Ranger Unit Chief in his home county of San Luis Obispo.

He continued to enjoy aviation and flew his Cessna 172 well into his 80’s. Jim maintained his love of horses, never being without one and participated in more than 50 annual trail rides with the Caballeros de San Luis Obispo. His retirement included hunting, fishing, traveling, community volunteer work and enjoying his family and many friends.

Retired Chief Jim Dulitz left his print on all who knew him. By watching him, we learned to be a little more humble, kind, gentle, fair, generous, and honest. Jim is survived by his sons Dan (Carole) and Dave (Carole); granddaughters Julie Bales (John), Mellissa Withers and Mellinda Barajas (Andres); great-grandchildren Emily, Sebastion, and Riley; long time companion Betty Rougeot; and friend and caregiver Daniel Barajas. He was preceded in death by his wife, Sylvia; and all of his four siblings.

A “Cowboy BBQ” celebration of Jim's life was held Saturday, September 10, 2011, at the El Chorro Regional Park in San Luis Obispo.

In Remembrance of Retired Ranger Unit Chief Jim Dulitz...

On August 12, 2009, I posed this question to a group of fifty plus firefighters at Nipomo Station: How many of you have practiced fire shelter deployment in the last month? The response was a showing of two or three hands.

August 15, 1979, and the weeks following were dark days for many CDF firefighters and family members. As a result of that terrible afternoon, San Luis Obispo Unit had the unfortunate honor of earning fire shelters for CDF firefighters statewide. It was amazing. Within a week or two, everyone had a fire shelter. Mandated by CAL OSHA, it was a marvel in logistics.

Consider this. History has that nasty habit of repeating itself. Lessons learned are conveniently forgotten. The number of shelter deployments since Spanish Ranch speaks volumes. How many firefighters really practice shelter deployment as if their lives depended on it? There will be future deployments. Thinking otherwise is a mistake.

This much I know is true: Ten of the fourteen “CDF” firefighters killed in San Luis Obispo Unit were trapped or overrun by fire. What happened on that mountain on August 15, 1979, happened in a matter of sec-onds and minutes. HFEO Corning dropped his fire curtains and it was all over in a ninety seconds. He survived. Five hundred yards down the ridge, it was someone else’s turn. Captain Marty, Firefighter Lorant and Firefighter Manley had time to sense their impending deaths, more than enough time to deploy fire shelters had shelters been an option. Their deaths were violent. HFEO Corning used their backpumps to extinguish the burning bodies. Firefighter Cox was not there. He employed the “last resort” (for which we trained). Cox ran for his life and sur-vived for the next 5 ½ months.

No doubt, all four firefighters would have walked off that mountain had fire shelters been available. A purposeful memorial to Ed, Ron, Steve and Scott is doing everything you can to prevent it from happening again. Despite your best plan of attack, expect a wind shift and plan for your survival. A good start might be frequent and realistic shelter deployment drills. After all, they paid the ultimate price for your shelter.

On the anniversary of Spanish Ranch, Chief Lewin visited Station 20 in Nipomo and as a training exercise, the on-duty crew and Chief’s Fisher and Lewin practiced “fire shelter deployment”.

Spanish Ranch, Thirty Two Years Later Submitted by Retired Battalion Chief Mike Cole


Sheriff ’s Day at the Ranch


Mid State Fair 2011

Big Thank You to all the Volunteers that helped make the CAL FIRE Fair Booth a success once again…. Thank you Es for

“pulling it together” ~ as you always do!

Sheriff’s Day at the Ranch was held on September 17, 2011 at the Madonna Inn Ranch, San Luis Obispo ~

Special thank you to Chief Veneris and Station 12 crew for their support of this event!

I love staying busy, and have found there is no shortage of work for those who feel that way. Up to recently I have been involved in spanish translation at my church. I've been playing bass in a band. I have been working out 5 days per week lifting weights and running/hiking a local mountain 6-7 days a week. I also was one of the "Members of the Month" at my gym. I was a volunteer in the search for the local Los Osos woman at the end of september, of course I was on the other side of town when she was found- "bass-ackwards" as usual .

My wife and I have been enjoying traveling. Not only have we traveled in the US, but visited Romania, Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, France, San Marino, Peru and England. Our kids have all moved out, my daughter is a marketing ex-ecutive for a laser eye surgery corporation that covers all of Southern California and the Central Coast. One son is a local electrical contractor, who I have occasionally helped on electrical jobs around the area. We traveled to Texas this summer (incredibly hot- every day over 106, 2 days of 111 and one day 119 with humidity!) to deliver our youngest son, 22, to the University Of Texas Law School, where he is a first year law student, and Longhorn, "Hook' em Horns !!!"

On top of it all, I am the house-husband for my wife who is still a school teacher. The cooking, cleaning, etc., I learned as a Firefighter has given me the credentials for that job. I also run house feeding 4 adults that includes my brother's (Division Chief Don Stein) daughter while she and her room mate attend Cuesta College.

Rule of thumb-If you were a busy person before retirement, you stay busy after. I remodeled my house and a rental I own since I retired. Busy, busy, busy.

Blessings to All,

Chuck (Stein) Stone

Retiree Happenings (Submitted by Chuck (Stein) Stone)


I went down to Dominican Republic this year kite surfing. This is a picture in the waves at Cabarete.

More Retiree Fun… (Submitted by Mike Harkness)

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer


Thank you to everyone that came out on 10/22/11 to support the American Cancer

Society! Big THANK YOU to Corrin Clark for heading up TEAM CAL FIRE!

TEAM CAL FIRE raised $725.00!

Burn Relay Information Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Relay “Annual Central Coast Fire Chiefs Relay”

October 14, 2011

The Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation (AARBF) is a California-based non-profit organization dedicated to preventing burns and fires and providing ser-vices to those who have been affected by a burn injury. AARBF brings together health care providers, firefighters, emergency workers, burn survivors and oth-ers to enhance the quality of life for burn survivors and to make burn injuries a thing of the past.

Captain Steven Knuckles, Morro Bay Fire Department again organized this wonderful annual event. Contact information is also available on the website at www.aarbf.org


MDA Fundraiser On August 26, 2011 I joined with many of you in “Filling the Boot” for MDA. We were on Niblick near Wal-mart in Paso Robles. So many people commented on how supportive they are of the fire service and appre-ciative of our effort at helping Jerry’s Kids. I just cannot say how much my wife Marlie and I appreciate the effort you all put into these important fund raising events. So far our Unit has done events in Atascadero, Ni-pomo and now Paso Robles. Firefighter Jay Alba, who puts so much effort into putting these events to-gether, tells me he is working with Station 62 on putting on the next event in Avila Beach. I look forward to joining you at that event as well.

Most thankfully,

Robert Lewin, Fire Chief

GREAT JOB TO ALL THAT HELPED!

If you have questions, please contact Jay P. Alba at (805) 712-5944 – (please leave a message)

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to a good cause!!

CAL FIRE CRIB CROWD… (Babies! Babies! Babies!)

Retired HFEO Dayton Schroeder had a new granddaughter on September 24, 2011. Elizabeth Regina Schroeder 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 19

1/4 inches. Congratulations to the Schroeder Family!

Welcome Baby Ortiz! Congratulations to Firefighter Brandon Ortiz and his wife Jessica on their new addition Gabriel Robert Ortiz! Gabriel was born on September 18, 2011 at 2204 and weighed 10 lbs 6 oz.

Congratulations to “Grandpa Tim”! BC Eckles is now the proud Grandpa to his first Grandson, Lucas Daniel - born August 5, 2011 - Baby Lucas weighed 8lbs 8 oz and 21 inches - Tim’s daughter Amber and her husband Daniel Moore are the

proud new parents… Grandpa Tim cannot wait to take Lucas fishing!

Congratulations to the Eckles Family!

Website Information:

www.calfireslo.org

Fire Safe Council WWW.FSCSLO.ORG

MISSION STATEMENT

To serve and safeguard the people and protect the property and resources of San Luis Obispo County through education preparedness

and emergency response.

Vision

The San Luis Obispo County Fire Department will exceed expectations and maintain the highest standards of preparedness, training, and

emergency response.

Core Values

Integrity, Competence, Teamwork, Courage, Commitment

The CDF Benevolent Association provides assistance to employees and their families during times of financial need. Many families have benefited from their generosity. If you would like to make a donation to the Association, checks can be mailed to:

San Luis Obispo County Benevolent Association

Post Office Box 3095

Paso Robles, CA 93447

Please submit your articles, information, pictures, etc., to: Naomi McCormack 635 North Santa Rosa Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93405 Email: [email protected]

Documents

06 Newsletter Fall 2011.pdf