Page 98 - History of the Colton Fire Department

is called Con Fire (Consolidated Fire
1982 Agencies of the East Valley). The depart-
In 1982 Colton Fire Department ments involved cooperated in training,
contracted for dispatch services with San purchasing of equipment such as breath-
Bernardino County Communications ing support unit which were shared by
Center (Comm Center). The San Ber- participating departments on large struc-
nardino County Fire Department – CON- ture fires. Departments also participated
FIRE JPA. The Confire Communications with personnel in creating hazardous ma-
Center (Comm Center), is a multi agen- terials specialists to work with San Ber-
cy emergency Fire/Emergency Medical nardino County Environmental Health
Service (EMS)-only dispatch center. Its Services to create a hazardous materials
primary mission is to provide direct fire/ response team. Today Environmental
EMS dispatch service 24 hours a day, Health Services is under San Bernardino
seven days a week for the Consolidated County Fire Department.
Fire Agencies of CONFIRE JPA, as well I (Dennis Bickers) started with
as contracting fire agencies. M e m b e r the Colton Fire Department in February
agencies of the CONFIRE JPA are: San of 1982. Prior to this, I worked a year
Bernardino County Fire Department, as a CETA fireman and then worked for
Colton Fire Department, Loma Linda an Ambulance Company as a Paramedic
Fire Department, Redlands Fire Depart- while I tested for various fire depart-
ment, and the Rialto Fire Department. ments. Paramedics were becoming very
The Running Springs Fire District and desirable in the fire service and would in-
Twentynine Palms Fire Department cur- crease your chances of being hired on a
rently contract for dispatch services with department. If you were serious about
the CONFIRE JPA. The Comm Center’s getting hired in the fire service you would
primary function is to provide direct fire, take as many test that were being given in
EMS, and rescue dispatch for the CON- and as far as you were willing to travel.
FIRE members and the dispatch contrac- There were always hundreds of appli-
tors. Comm Center also functions as the cants for sometimes 1 or 2 positions.
operational area dispatch for the County Chief Al Teague was the Fire
of San Bernardino. Under this function, Chief and Captain Hall was my Captain.
Comm Center is responsible for coordi- Colton’s uniform shirts were gray while
nating mutual-aid needs within the coun- most departments wore light or dark blue
ty and for processing mutual-aid requests shirts. I liked the fact that we were differ-
to and from the Region VI Operations ent than other agencies. Everyone could
Center of the California Office of Emer- tell when Colton walked into the room. I
gency Services, located in Riverside. soon began to hear that Colton was well
The fire departments of the east respected for their training and ability.
valley signed automatic aid agreements The fact that we were recognized from
among participating departments which a distance increased my appreciation for
included Colton, Loma Linda, San Ber- the gray shirts. Some of the guys thought
nardino, Redlands, Rialto, Norton Air we looked like mechanics. I guess they
Force Base and Central Valley Fire Dis- didn’t see it like I did. If Colton had
trict. As a result of these departments a bad reputation then you might want to
98 working together, created what blend in, but it wasn’t the case. When-