Inyo County Southern Fire Dist vs. South County Fire

[Progline]

I've been following the NEXEDGE thread on Inyo County and had a question but didn't want to clutter that thread:

The Inyo/MRA agreement text refers to adding Sheriff, Probation, DA and Southern Inyo Fire Protection District to the system in its initial phase. Although there was no roll-out specifically mentioned, other County Departments (Roads, etc) would be included down the line.

In the RR Inyo County DB, there are listings for a

153.87500

WNSV573

RM

151.4 PL

Inyo Co FD

South County Fire Dispatch (Owen's Valley)

And the aforementioned:
Southern Inyo Fire Protection District

154.72500

WNMX297

BM

85.4 PL

SouthernInyoFPD1

Dispatch

Can someone describe the difference between the two districts (South County Fire vs. Southern Inyo Fire)? I'm guessing its response area, but since they're both "south" (and both have Mazourka Pk as a site).....I was curious.

Thanks for your help
Rob

 

[zerg901]

ca fdid oct 1 2O21 fdidmstr1.xlsx ... under Inyo County in this listing you can see that 'Southern Inyo Fire Protection District' is 1 distinct fire department

my guess is that the 153.875 channel is shared by more than 1 FD in the southern area of Inyo County ... maybe not necessarily including the "Southern Inyo Fire Protection District"

==============

Generally speaking in the USA .... a 'fire department' is part of a local government agency .... a 'fire company' is a non governmental agency (see Pennsylvania, NY, NJ, etc] ...... a "fire protection district' is a fire department that has its own publicly elected or appointed 'fire commissioners' (and they set their own tax rate to fund their FD / or they control their own budget} (see IL IN etc] ... there seems to be a good deal of variation between states in this regards

 

[Alain]

"... "fire protection district' is a fire department that has its own publicly elected or appointed 'fire commissioners' (and they set their own tax rate to fund their FD...]

Just as long as the FPD receives the necessary voter approval for the tax increase. Here is San Diego County, we had a FPD that placed a proposal on the November ballot. It failed, but not by much. It was a proposal for a desperately needed new station. The major problem is not financing the real estate or construction the station, but having the necessary funds to enlist, house and maintain full-time firefighters.

It is a small town and they [the FPD] have, in the past, lived by having to catch-and-release firefighters. Personnel get trained, stay a while, then find jobs elsewhere that garner a greater salary from larger agencies and deeper pockets; it's a revolving-door policy. So, this FPD have decided to start a "foundation" that will assist in funding this project. The foundation, it is planned, will be geared to train-and-maintain firefighter personnel for a growing community and its residents.

 

[es93546]

I've been following the NEXEDGE thread on Inyo County and had a question but didn't want to clutter that thread:

The Inyo/MRA agreement text refers to adding Sheriff, Probation, DA and Southern Inyo Fire Protection District to the system in its initial phase. Although there was no roll-out specifically mentioned, other County Departments (Roads, etc) would be included down the line.

In the RR Inyo County DB, there are listings for a

153.87500

WNSV573

RM

151.4 PL

Inyo Co FD

South County Fire Dispatch (Owen's Valley)

And the aforementioned:
Southern Inyo Fire Protection District

154.72500

WNMX297

BM

85.4 PL

SouthernInyoFPD1

Dispatch

Can someone describe the difference between the two districts (South County Fire vs. Southern Inyo Fire)? I'm guessing its response area, but since they're both "south" (and both have Mazourka Pk as a site).....I was curious.

Thanks for your help
Rob

The Southern Inyo Fire Protection District is located in and around the communities of Shoshone and Tecopa in the southeastern portion of Inyo County, just east of the boundary of Death Valley National Park. The Inyo County SO has repeaters on Rogers Peak, west of Furnace Creek and on Tecopa, south of the town of Tecopa. Both towns are unincorporated and have a small population. The number of dispatches in the area does not justify a repeater on the county's South County Fire Dispatch net. So they set off pagers using the Sheriff's repeater system. The fire department at Furnace Creek in Death Valley has the same arrangement. South County Fire is used to dispatch in the Owens Valley from Big Pine to Olancha. North County fire dispatch is handled by the Bishop Rural Fire District, which is a part of the Bishop Fire Department. Bishop FD responds to vehicle fires on U.S. 395 up to the Mono/Inyo County line, along with Cal Fire. Frequency listings do not explain this north/south split in the Owens Valley, they just list 154.4300 as the dispatch frequency for the Bishop VFD. Not all the housing areas north of Bishop, for example Mustang Mesa, are in the rural fire district. They have been in a "no man's land" as far as fire protection. Recently, there has been a change in this status, but I don't know what is involved. I haven't talked with any of my friends that live on Mustang Mesa recently.

I hope this explains the situation. Sometimes you have to live in these areas to understand them.

"... "fire protection district' is a fire department that has its own publicly elected or appointed 'fire commissioners' (and they set their own tax rate to fund their FD...]

Just as long as the FPD receives the necessary voter approval for the tax increase. Here is San Diego County, we had a FPD that placed a proposal on the November ballot. It failed, but not by much. It was a proposal for a desperately needed new station. The major problem is not financing the real estate or construction the station, but having the necessary funds to enlist, house and maintain full-time firefighters.

It is a small town and they [the FPD] have, in the past, lived by having to catch-and-release firefighters. Personnel get trained, stay a while, then find jobs elsewhere that garner a greater salary from larger agencies and deeper pockets; it's a revolving-door policy. So, this FPD have decided to start a "foundation" that will assist in funding this project. The foundation, it is planned, will be geared to train-and-maintain firefighter personnel for a growing community and its residents.

The largest fundraiser for the Bishop FD is the destruction derby event at the Tri County Fair in September. The "Tri Counties" are Alpine/Mono/Inyo. We rarely see anything or anybody from Alpine County there. Given the largest part of the Mono County population is in the southern part of the county and the largest part of the Inyo County population is in northern Inyo County, the fairgrounds in Bishop makes a great deal of sense. My wife and I go to the destruction derby nearly every year to support the department and enjoy some small town, good old fashioned, redneck fun. It is a huge event, they fill most of the seats in the fairground arena. There are also raffle tickets sold, a frozen T Shirt contest (take them out of the freezer and see who can put the shirt on first) and lots of food/snack sales.

 

[Progline]

Thank you, that was very concise.