Fourth District Firefighters Volunteer in Droves
The statistics are rather amazing when you add up the amount of effort that firefighters from the Fourth District have contributed to the battle against Southern California blazes.
"Every single fire station in the Fourth District of Riverside County has contributed at least one engine, and the staffing to go with it," says Division Chief Ray Paiz. "A large number of our firefighters have voluntarily given up days off and even scheduled vacations to volunteer." Typically, staffing for one engine is either 3 or 4 firefighters.
Paiz estimates that 10 to 15 percent of Fourth District firefighters actually cancelled vacations. Right now, there are just over 100 firefighters from the district who are backfilling for those who moved further west . . . and yet, no stations in the 4th are left without a full staff and engine.
In addition, at least three Riverside County firefighters who live in the western part of the county have faced mandatory evacuation of their families. Once those families were placed in a safe environment, each of the firefighters volunteered to go back on duty.
From Blythe to Sky Valley, Fourth District Fire Department employees have volunteered in droves to join the battle.
"In the past 24 hours, we've experienced significant reduction in wind speeds," Paiz said in summing up the overall battle. "As a result, we have made significant progress."
However, he warned that with the change in the weather, there is a change in the movement of the fire. And that movement now is increasingly eastward, toward Riverside county. Paiz said that there is an ongoing planning effort for a "potential Riverside County incursion" of the fires.
In the meantime, there have been many offers of other voluntary help in the Fourth District, such as reduced hotel and resort rates for refugees, corrals for horses and other livestock, and the like. Many emergency services officials are saying, though, that the Fourth District for now remains a bit too far removed from the burn areas for that type of aid.
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