Officials Dispute Fire Base Report

Riverside County supervisors sparred with state fire officials Tuesday over the possible relocation of a fire air attack base from the Hemet-Ryan Airport to March Air Reserve Base near Perris, saying it might endanger some fire-prone mountain communities.

At the same meeting, supervisors agreed to stick with the state firefighting agency rather than form a new, costlier county fire department.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in a report released last month, said it had determined that March ARB was a more modern site with a longer runway, and better suited to the large tanker planes used to battle wildfires.

Supervisor Jeff Stone criticized the report, saying it was “riddled with wrong assumptions and manipulations of data.” He said state fire officials were dismissing the county’s concerns that moving the planes to March would increase their flight time to south county communities such as Idyllwild, where fire danger is high.

The discussion is the latest flare-up between the Forestry Department and Riverside County officials. The county contracts with the state agency to provide fire protection throughout the county and is its largest firefighting client. Recently, supervisors have sought more local control of firefighting.

Supervisors expressed dismay when the regional fire chief was replaced without consulting them last year. The board also has studied the prospects of breaking away from state fire services and, as was evident Tuesday, continues to question the agency’s proposal to move the air attack base.

Supervisor John Tavaglione and another supervisor had met earlier with state officials about the issue. Tavaglione labeled the report “so one-sided and so far against Hemet-Ryan, I’m wondering if that meeting was just a smokescreen.”

But Supervisor Bob Buster described board members’ protests as political maneuvering.

“The majority of the board took a position [favoring Hemet-Ryan] and is finding it difficult to backtrack from that position,” said Buster, who praised the report’s findings.

State fire officials stood by the report, which analyzed 70,000 simulated fires and found the two locations similarly effective in initial firefighting attacks, while March had better facilities. The findings contradicted a county study from the summer that supported Hemet-Ryan.

Dale Geldert, director of the state forestry agency, said the department would review the report with supervisors’ staff members, possibly with the help of an independent consultant, and hoped to make a decision by December.

“I would assume the citizens of Riverside County would want a modernized airport,” said Bill Stewart, assistant deputy director of the department, who helped draft the report.

He cited environmental protections as one obstacle to lengthening Hemet-Ryan’s runway.

The county executive office submitted a study this week that determined that creating a county-run fire department would cost about $12.8 million more a year than maintaining state services. The board agreed to continue contracting with the state for the time being, but to collaborate with state leaders to allow Riverside County more local control of its fire protection.