Lakeside Fire Joins Attack on Cutca Wildfire

Lakeside, CA -

In the early morning of July 25, 2015, Water Tender 7251, out of Station 2, was called up to be a part of a multi-agency attack on the wildfire in the Cleveland National Forest. The Cutca fire began at 4:00 pm on Friday, July 24. The fire is located in a steep and inaccessible terrain east of Cutca Valley and south of Long Canyon, two (2) miles north of the Palomar Observatory. No structures have been threatened.  This area has no history of fire activity. The fire is currently 50% contained and crews are mopping up.

Water Tender 7251 was released last night as the fire started to wind down.

Lakeside C-Division Training Day

Lakeside, Calif.

 On Sunday, March 22, 2015, the C-division firefighters from Lakeside fire stations 1 and 2 got together to drill on wildland fire operations. The crews practiced pump-and-roll, drafting, relay pumping, and water supply operations utilizing Brush 1 and Water Tender 7251.

 One of the most frequent questions we get from our citizens is "what do firefighters do during their workday."In today's fire service, firefighters have little "down time" during their shifts. Each day of the week comes with a routine that includes vehicle, apparatus, and station maintenance; fire prevention inspections, public education events, and obviously calls for service. One activity that happens virtually every day of the year is training.

Due to the "all-risk" nature of the modern American fire service, our firefighters must constantly train. We strive to maintain competencies in a wide range of areas including structural and wildland firefighting; technical rescue to include vehicle, rope, and water rescue; emergency medical services at the advance life support (paramedic) level; hazardous material, gas and electrical emergencies. Within each of these broad subject areas are myriad other competencies that need to be trained on.

The Lakeside Fire District has always prided itself on its training program and the professional competency of our personnel. As our district training motto states: we train for "Readiness, Safety, and Duty."

Engineer-PM Jon Jordan (r) and FF-PM Bing Tom train on Lakeside Brush 1.

Post and photo by: Captain Scott Culkin, Lakeside Fire District