Riverside County Firefighting Base Will Stay Put

Ending years of political wrangling and delays, state fire officials announced Tuesday that air tankers dispatched to Riverside County’s most wildfire-prone areas would continue to be based at Hemet-Ryan Airport rather than move northwest to March Air Reserve Base near Moreno Valley.

The decision eases increasingly strained relations between Riverside County supervisors, who wanted the operation to stay put, and state fire officials, who had favored the move to March.

The state officials told the supervisors Tuesday that key factors in keeping the four-aircraft firefighting fleet at Hemet-Ryan were the clearer weather conditions and lighter air traffic there, as well as the proximity to fire-prone communities in the southern part of the county.

Within the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, “there were two opposing views, and a decision had to be made,” said Ruben Grijalva, acting director of the state fire agency and state fire marshal.

The safety of area residents, pilots and firefighters was of primary concern in the choice to keep the nearly 50-year-old Hemet-Ryan base -- one of the busiest fire attack air bases in the nation, Grijalva said.

Riverside County is the state agency’s largest client, paying about $100 million annually for firefighting services, said CDF spokesman Michael Jarvis.

The five-member Board of Supervisors applauded the decision.

Keeping the tankers at Hemet-Ryan will mean a “sigh of relief in the easternmost part of this county,” said Supervisor Jeff Stone, whose district includes the airport.

Stone had been a vocal advocate for Hemet-Ryan since constituents raised concerns about the proposed move early last year. He argued that moving to March, 15 miles away, would create a 10- to 15-minute delay for air crews trying to reach blazes in remote, forested communities such as Idyllwild and Anza.

Although the aging base at Hemet-Ryan needs major work, it’s “better located to the problem areas that we have for fire responses,” said the base’s battalion chief, John Winder.

Projections for overhauling the facilities at Hemet-Ryan -- including new administrative buildings, hangars and retardant mixing space -- have been as high as $14 million but will probably be less, Jarvis said. The work could take several years.

A move to March was first proposed in 1997, but negotiations and budget constraints stalled it. About $500,000 has been spent on the proposed transfer, with an estimated $8 million budgeted for the project, Jarvis said.

Tuesday’s comments heralded a thaw in the frosty relations between the county and state officials last year. The Board of Supervisors had become so frustrated with state fire officials that it investigated the possibility of creating a separate fire force.

Now state officials are working, Grijalva said, to “try to be responsive to local concerns.”