Residents living in Inyo, Mono, and San Bernardino counties interested in a fire prevention program email jack.markle@fire.ca.gov
Yesterday, November 16th was "Civics Day" in the City of Highland, California. This annual event allows high school students to shadow people in areas of civil service that they aspire to. CAL FIRE hosted two high school seniors from Orangewood High School in the City of Redlands.
Ricardo Gomez and Chad Kurr both want to go into the fire service. For their visit, they were taken to a Highland fire station where they received a tour and learned about the daily routine that firefighters go through. Later in the morning, the two teens and their fire engines met up in a parking lot to participate in a training hose lay.
Ricardo Gomez gets the feel of working the nozzle. Ricardo says that when he was young, he went to a local fire station on a field trip. Once there, he says that he feel in love with the big red truck and decided that he wanted to become a firefighter. After high school he plans to become a volunteer firefighters while he attends the fire academy.
Senior Chad Kurr also had his opportunity to work the nozzle as the teens were shown how to attack a structure fire. Chad also wants to become a firefighter and plans to attend a fire academy and apply to become a season firefighters for the United States Forest Service.
CAL FIRE/Highland City firefighters responded yesterday, October 14, 2010 to a structure fire at 6987 Elmwood Drive in Highland, California. While firefighters quickly extinguished the small blaze, witnesses informed Highland City Sheriff’s Deputies that two teenagers had been seen entering and leaving the vacant house around the time of the fire. Deputies quickly searched the surrounding area, located and detained the two teens reported by the witnesses.
CAL FIRE/San Bernardino Unit Fire Investigators Battalion Chief Bart Chambers and Fire Captain Specialist Jack Markle responded and took custody of the teens. During their investigation, Chambers and Markle determined there was enough evidence to arrest the two teens . It was also determined that the two teens had started a small vegetation fire inside the city limits of San Bernardino, California. The fires reportedly happened within an hour of each other. The two teens, brother and sister ages 13 and 15 had been reported as runaways on Wednesday, October 13th.
The two were charged with two counts of 451(c) of the California Penal Code; willfully and maliciously setting a fire which is a felony crime. The teens were cited and released to their parents. No injuries were reported and damage to the structure and contents was less than $5,000 dollars.
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