By Paul Kruze

March 1, 2015 (Spring Valley)--After a couple of months getting familiar with their responsibilities and getting used to a trio of newly-elected colleagues, the San Miguel Fire District Board began to get down to business at its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on February 11 at the district headquarters in Spring Valley.

February 15, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--The Countywide Firefighter Boot Drive is the biggest and most important fundraiser of the year for the Burn Institute.  Firefighters from over 40 departments will grab their boots and congregate at nearly 100 intersections. Virtually every fire department in the county is participating, so look for them in your neighborhood.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, right: Adam Beardsley and his wife, Megan

Update February 19, 2015 -- Adam Beardsley received a new heart two days ago and is doing very well, a Heartland Fire official announced at last night's La Mesa Chamber of Commerce Salute to Heroes event.

Update February 15, 2015--Rust Accounting has sent us a final tally for the event, which raised over $18,000 from an estimated 1,000 guests who attended.

February 11, 2015 (La Mesa) –Hundreds of community members turned out Sunday at the Bolt Brewery in La Mesa at a fundraiser to help cover expenses for Adam Beardsley, a 33-year-old Heartland Deputy Fire Marshal in need of a heart transplant. 

“He has such as big heart,” Monica Zech, public information officer for the City of El Cajon, said of Beardsley. She added that he remains in good spirits at UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospital, where he has been a patient since January 6^th, awaiting a heart donor.  “But he didn’t want this to be just about him,” she said, adding that Beardsley hopes publicity on the shortage of organ donors will ultimately help others, too.

A single organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people. Currently over 110,000 people in the U.S. are on the waiting list for an organ transplant. Nearly 1,600 people are on the waiting list for a organ transplant in San Diego and Imperial Counties. For information about organ donation, click here.

Update: Click here for a map of the burn area, provided by CAL FIRE, which is assistant state parks with the burn.

 

February 3, 2015 (Cuyamaca) -- A 100-acre controlled burn is scheduled for this Wednesday, February 4 in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park at Middle Peak.  The burn has been cancelled several previous times, but could put out significant smoke visible across East County if it goes forward.

Another burn is slated on Mt. Laguna, ECM has learned.

By Miriam Raftery

January 17, 2015 (Ocotillo) –A wind turbine at the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility burst into flames on January 15^th.  East County Magazine photographer Jim Pelley, an Ocotillo resident, caught the incident on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGYvHM5KlJs&feature=youtu.be. The Siemens 2.3-108 turbine was a 2.3 megawatt  model with 108 meter blades.  The turbine (#110) is located along a mining road.

“There were no injuries,” Jeff Grappone from Siemens told ECM.  An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire, he stated in an e-mail.  The equipment impacted (six turbines on one circuit) has been de-energized, a safe perimeter established and the tower is being monitored continuously, he indicated.

By Miriam Raftery

January 7, 2015 (Spring Valley) – The State Controller’s Office has issued its final review report on the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District’s administrative and internal accounting controls.

“Our review did not identify any significant deficiencies with the District’s administrative and internal accounting controls,” the report states. None-the-less, the report indicates the state plans to charge the district for the cost of the investigation. report indicates the state launched the investigation  because it had “reason to believe that the Annual Report of Financial Transactions submitted by the District is misstated, incomplete, or incorrect.”

By Paul Kruze

December 16, 2014 (Spring Valley) -- Promising a heightened attention to transparency and public involvement in its decisions and special attention to the area around the community of Crest, three newly-elected members of the San Miguel Fire District, Mike Vacio, Jim Ek, and Theresa McKenna, were sworn into office by El Cajon Superior Court Presiding Judge, Laura Halgren at last Wednesday’s regularly scheduled monthly board meeting.  The three replaced previously elected members, Richard Augustine, Chris Winter, and Jeffrey Lyle Nelson, who lost their bids to serve a second four-year term in the November General Election. The board positions held by William Kiel, Dave Rickards, Karrie Johnston, and Dan McMillan are slated for re-election in 2016.

East County News Service

December 9, 2014 (San Diego)--Over 2,600 lawsuits were filed against San Diego Gas & Electric Company over damages from the 2007 firestorms that devastated our region.

East County News Service

December 6, 2014 (San Diego’s East County)—If you see smoke over the backcountry, be aware that the Cleveland National Forest will conduct prescribed burning from December 2014 through June of 2015 as weather and fuel conditions permit on the Trabuco, Palomar and Descanso Ranger Districts. The goal of the burning is to reduce hazardous fuels that have accumulated in the Forest and around local communities.

A red flag warning for fire danger is now in effect through Wednesday at 6 p.m. in San Diego’s mountain and inland region. Santa Ana winds with gusts up to 80 miles per hour are forecast.

SDG&E shut off power proactively due to the high winds and fire danger Monday night, leaving about 90 residents in Descanso, Cuyamaca and Boulder Creek without power, ABC 10 News reports. Restoration is expected this morning.

East County News Service

November 23, 2014 (Jamul) – A motorcycle fire caused a brush fire that burned approximately one acre today at Pio Pico Thousand Trails in Jamul on Otay Lakes Road.

East County News Service

November 5, 2014 (San Diego's East County) -- The biggest political upset in East County this electionappears to have taken place in the San Miguel Fire District, where a slate of challengers has won three seats on the board, ousting incumbents.

On top with 100% of precincts counted Mike Vacio, Jim Ek and Theresa McKenna with 20.16%, 18.25% and 16.26% of the vote.

By Nadin Abbott and Tom Abbott

Photos Tom Abbott and Nadin Abbott

Reprinted with permission from Reporting San Diego

November 2, 2014 (San Diego) - Reporting San Diego sat down with Captain Ken Bortisser, the Public Information Officer of the Monte Vista Unit. Monte Vista is the name of the San Diego Administrative CAL FIRE unit. We talked about fire issues.

October 23, 2014 (San Diego)—The County of San Diego is teaming up with San Diego State University to make emergency alerts go viral over Twitter. 

The project is the brainchild of SDSU geography professor Ming Hsiang-Tsou, who directors the Center for Human Dynamics in the Mobile Age on campus.  Thanks to a million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, Tsou has been studying how the County’s Office of Emergency Services can spread alerts about disasters such as earthquakes or wildfires quickly and to targeted areas—even if traditional means of communications such as phone lines aren’t working.

East County News Service

October 19, 2014 (San Diego’s East County)--A television ad featuring Cal-Fire director Ken Pimlott advises voters that a yes vote on Propositions 1 and 2 will “protect the water and the fire services we need” for the future.  The ad features video of wildfires and suggests that the measures are needed to make sure that California improves its water infrastructure to be better prepared for drought--and to assure that firefighting budgets won’t be cut in future economic downturns.