Page 119 - History of the Colton Fire Department

2003
The Training Manual that was created back in 1959 has
been modified many times to stay current with today’s
practices but still had much of the original material. So
much had changed in over 40 years that a new manual
was overdue. Captain Kevin Valentin took on this huge
project and finished the new manual in 2003. With cur-
rent photos and written instructions that went into great
detail, would provide a rookie with the tools they needed
for their first year and a solid base to build a career from.
It would also provide a standard for the entire depart-
ment. The manual is one of the best in the fire service
and would cover everyone’s job in any situation. Captain
Valentin also redesigned a more comprehensive Target
Hazard book for preplanning and reference material for
every vital structure in the city.
In 2003, came the worst fire season in California
history known as the “2003 Fire Storm”. On Oct 26-31,
through either arson or accident, a number of extremely
devastating wildfires swept through Southern California,
causing a tragic loss of 22 lives, destroyed over 2,000
homes, burned nearly a half million acres of open wilder-
ness area and our air-quality across the southland jumped
to hazardous levels.
Colton had 3 units that were used for strike teams. A
type 1 Structure unit out of station 3, a type 1 Structure
unit OES (Office of Emergency Services, bright yellow
engines) out of station 1 and a type 3 Brush Engine out of
Top: Satellite view of the 2003 Southland Fire Storm. station 4. For several intense weeks, Colton had 3 units
Moving northwest to southeast along the coast, the first cluster of that would be sent to and from various fires during this
red dots is a combination of the Piru, Verdale, and Simi Incident storm such as the Grand Prix fire, the old fire, the Para-
Fires; the next cluster to the east of Los Angeles is the Grand Prix
(west) and Old (east) Fires; to their south is the Roblar 2 Fire; dise fire and Cedar Fire.
next is the Paradise Fire; then the massive Cedar Fire, whose
thick smoke is completely overshadowing the coastal city of San 2004
Diego; finally, at the California-Mexico border is the Otay Fire. Computers have started to make a huge difference
impact in the workplace over the past 15 years. Dennis
Above: 2 campaign ribbons that were given by San Bernardino Bickers created Colton Fire Department’s first web site
County for participation in some of the nations most horrific and
costly fire storms. 2007-08 & 2003 and purchased the name “www.ColtonFire.com”. Most
all cities and companies would have a web site to express
York was inundated with help and support from around themselves better and reach out to the public. Dennis
the world. When we asked what we could do, the re- Bickers took it upon himself to design a web site with
sponse was to pray for those that we lost and those that a wide range of information on the various services that
are still searching. the Colton Fire Department provides. As the department
2002 realized the value of information displayed on a public
Local fire departments participated with San Ber- web site, Colton decided to have a company redesign and
nardino County Sheriff’s Arson Bomb Unit to create an update the “ColtonFire.com” web site in 2008. David
arson task force to jointly investigate fires within the San Santos would be the new webmaster and continued to im-
Bernardino Valley. Colton Fire Department provided prove the web site.
members to this task force as well as an arson van and
equipment for their use. 2005
In July 2005, a new training tower was 119