Grand Fire Udate 5-19-2013
Location & Details: Two Miles East of Frazier Park, CA. Currently the Grand Fire is at 4,346 acres and is 85% contained. There are 39 engines, 0 air tankers, 2 helicopters, 16 water tenders, 5 bulldozers and 1046 personnel.
Current Situation: Crews will continue to improve and hold existing lines, and continue with suppression repair. Demobilization will continue as needed through Tuesday. CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 6 plans on transitioning back to local jurisdiction 05/21/2013.
Evacuations: Hungry Valley State Park and Piru Creek recreation area will remain closed until further notice.
Road Closures: Hungry Valley State Park and Gold Hill Road are scheduled to be reopened on 5/22/2013. Frazier Mtn. Road will remain closed until 5/24/2013.
Unified Command: CAL FIRE and USFS
Assisting Fire Agencies: Kern County Fire Department, Ventura County Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire, California States Parks, Bureau of Land Management.
Cooperating Agencies: California Highway Patrol, Kern County Sheriffs Office, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Office, Ventura County Sheriffs Office, Cal Trans, California State Parks, California Conservation Corps.
Additional Information: Kern County and Ventura County fire
hazard reduction deadlines are approaching. Be sure to clear grass and brush from around your homes early. For more information please visit: www.fire.countyofventura.org or www.kerncountyfire.org
Grand Fire Update 5-17-2013
Location & Details: 2 miles east of Frazier Park, CA. Currently the Grand Fire is at 4,100 acres and 35% contained. 6 Structures are threatened. Estimated Cost: $1,300,000
Current Situation: Firefighters continued to construct fire line around the fire perimeter today. Crews worked throughout the day making progress on the southern and northern sides of the fire and were assisted by lower temperatures and higher humidity. Crews made significant progress overnight with hopes of completing more line today. Acreage increase is in part due to overnight infrared flight.
Evacuations: Hungry Valley State Park and Piru Creek recreation area will remain closed until further notice.
Road Closures: Roads entering Hungry Valley State Park and Piru Creek.
Unified Command: CAL FIRE and USFS
Assisting Fire Agencies: Kern County Fire Department, Ventura County Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire, California States Parks, Bureau of Land Management
Co Operating Agencies: California Highway Patrol, Kern County Sheriffs Office, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Office, Ventura County Sheriffs Office, Cal Trans Please format similar to the existing blog. It's rather long so making a new one would be best if you don't mind. You should be able to use the last post as a starting point.
Grand Fire Update 5-16-2013
Location & Details: 2 miles east of Frazier Park, CA. Currently the Grand
Fire is at 3,500 acres and 15% contained. There are 55 engines, 7
airtankers, 6 helicopters, 6 water tenders, 4 bulldozers, and 1000
personnel.
Current Situation: Firefighters are continuing to construct fire line around the fire perimeter today, while helicopters will assist firefighters by cooling hot spots around the fires edge. Crews worked throughout the night to make progress on the southern and northern sides of the fire, and were assisted by lower temperatures and higher humidity. Firefighters are concentrating on the southern side of the fire in anticipation of slightly stronger winds throughout the day. Mandatory evacuations continue to be in effect in the Hungry Valley State Park and Piru Canyon areas, and all roads through the Park remain closed
Evacuations: Hungry Valley State Park and Piru Creek are a under mandatory evacuation. Frazier Mountain High School was evacuated earlier as a precaution.
Road Closures: Falcon Way to Frazier Mt High School is closed as well as roads entering Hungry Valley State Park and Piru Creek.
Unified Command: Kern Co Fire, Ventura Co Fire, USFS, and Cal Fire
Assisting Fire Agencies: Los Angeles Co. Fire, CAL FIRE, California State Parks and BLM
Co Operating Agencies: CHP, KCSO, LA Co. SO, Ventura Co. So, Cal Trans
Additional Information: Safety message – the fire and smoke are visible from Interstate 5. Motorists should be extra vigilant in keeping their eyes on the road while driving in the area.
SATURDAY, APRIL 27th, 2013
TPD TAKING BACK UNWANTED
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
prepared by Jeff Kermode, Chief of Police
On Saturday, April 27th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Tehachapi Police Department and Kern County Sheriff Tehachapi Substation will partner with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to give the public its sixth opportunity in three years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your medications for disposal to the Tehachapi Police Department, at the corner of S. Robinson St and E F St. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
Last September, Americans turned in 244 tons of prescription drugs at over 5,200 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners. In its five previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in over 2 million pounds – over a thousand tons – of pills.
This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue.
Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.
In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines – flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash – both pose potential safety and health hazards.
Four days after the first event, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them. The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances. DEA is drafting regulations to implement the Act.
Until new regulations are in place, local law enforcement agencies like the Tehachapi Police Department and Kern County Sheriff Tehachapi Substation and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events every few months.
A Note From the Editor: Arts, Science, & Technology (AST) Educational Corporation's project to turn Jacobson Jr. Middle School's former agricultural building into an outdoor Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) classroom is among the 200 semifinalists for the 40 $25,000 grants State Farm will be awarding to United States applicants. To support our community and this project just click https://www.state-assist.com/cause/5984/stem-learning-center and vote. You can vote up to ten times each day. Also please note you will need a Facebook account to vote.
The press release can be seen below:
Be
a Game Changer and Help Tehachapi Win a $25,000 Grant
Arts,
Science & Technology Educational Corporation of Tehachapi Needs
Your Vote
Tehachapi,
CA. (April 4, 2013)
– Tehachapi, CA answered the call from State
Farm®
to submit causes
that would
make a positive impact in their neighborhood. Now the Arts, Science &
Technology Educational Corporation of Tehachapi (AST) needs your
“assist” by voting them to the top and bringing money to
Tehachapi. From April 4 through April 22, anyone who has the free
State Farm Neighborhood
Assist™
Facebook application can vote for AST to help bring $25,000 to
Tehachapi.
With
a State Farm Neighborhood Assist grant, the AST would develop an
outdoor science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classroom
and an agricultural interpretive center for K-8 students.
3,000
submissions were received through State
Farm Neighborhood
Assist, a youth-led philanthropic program that empowers communities
to identify issues in their neighborhood. At least one cause was
received from every eligible state, district and province in the
United States and Canada. Then, the State Farm Youth
Advisory Board,
a diverse group of 30 students who are passionate about social
responsibility, reviewed the cause submissions and selected the 200
finalists
based on criteria
they created.
Once
the Youth Advisory Board selected the top 200, the
program connected each cause with a local nonprofit that can help
solve the problem. Forty-three states and Canadian provinces have
causes in the top 200.
AST
has
until April 22 to rally votes,
with anyone
voting allowed up to 10 votes per day.
On April
29, the top 40 vote-receiving causes will be announced
on the
Facebook app
and a $25,000 grant will be awarded to the affiliated nonprofits.
The
beauty of State Farm Neighborhood Assist is that it places
decision-making power directly in the hands of the public,”
said State Farm California Youth Advisory Board Member Brianna Pang.
“We hope the 2013 program is able to increase last year’s
widespread positive impact on U.S. and Canadian communities.”
For
a complete list of the top
200 causes or to vote for AST,
click
here.
About
State Farm®:
State
Farm and its affiliates are the largest provider of car
insurance
in the U.S. and is a leading insurer in Canada. In addition to
providing auto
insurance quotes,
their 17,800 agents and more than 65,000 employees serve 81 million
policies and accounts – more than 79 million auto, home, life and
health policies in the United States and Canada, and nearly 2 million
bank accounts. Commercial
auto insurance,
along with coverage for renters, business owners, boats and
motorcycles, is also available. State Farm Mutual Automobile
Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of
companies. State Farm is ranked No. 43 on the Fortune 500 list of
largest companies. For more information, please visit
http://www.statefarm.com
or in Canada http://www.statefarm.ca.
About
the Youth Advisory Board
The Youth Advisory Board is
comprised of 30 students, ages 17-20, from across the United States
and Canada who serve a two-year term. Their directive is to implement
a $5 million-a-year signature service-learning initiative to address
issues important to youth and communities. The Board is completely
autonomous and youth-driven, and funds projects focused on issues
selected by the board that impact youth. It consists of a diverse
group of full-time students at high schools and universities. Each
member commits about 15 hours a month to the Board and participates
in three face-to-face meetings per calendar year. The Board will fund
the 40 grants awarded through the State Farm Neighborhood Assist
program with a portion of its $5 million funding in 2013. For more
information on the Youth Advisory Board, visit www.statefarmyab.com.
"Matt
Young was named District Manager of Tehachapi Valley Recreation and
Parks District in Mach 2013.
As
District Manager, he is responsible for recreation programming, park
planning, park maintenance, strategic planning, budget oversight, and
associated department staff.
Matt
earned a Master of Science degree in Recreation and Park
Administration from Eastern Kentucky University. He is a professional
member of the National Recreation and Park Association and the
National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association.
Matt
has over 10 years of experience in recreation resource and project
management, including professional tenures with the US Forest
Service, commercial recreation and tour guide companies throughout
the Caribbean, and Berea Parks and Recreation in Berea, Kentucky.
Prior to joining TVRPD, he served as Assistant Director of Recreation
at Seattle University.
Matt
enjoys all facets of recreation, especially outdoor and nature-based
activities, and spending time with his family. It is with great
pleasure and excitement he joins the Tehachapi community!"
TEHACHAPI, CA – With Daylight Savings Time quickly approaching this
Sunday, March 10th, the Kern County Fire Department would like to remind all
residents to change the batteries in all smoke detectors and carbon monoxide
alarms around your home.
In addition to changing the batteries, be sure to test your smoke detectors
and carbon monoxide alarms for proper operation. Using a vacuum hose to
clean out the dust will also help keep your detectors in top working
condition.
News Release - March 5, 2013
CRIME ALERT
Vehicle Sought in Car Burglaries
prepared by Jeff Kermode, Chief of Police
Tehachapi - On Monday, March 4th, at about noon, a Tehachapi Unified School District employee noticed a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of the TUSD office at 300 S. Robinson St. The car was backed into a parking space between two other cars and two slender male Hispanics were seen looking into parked cars. When the subjects saw the district employee, they got into the car and drove over the curb, fleeing westbound on D St. TPD officers searched the area, but were unable to locate the car.
A short time later, TPD officers responded to Tompkins Elementary School at 1120 S. Curry St, where two employee cars had been burglarized. While still at the school investigating the crimes, officers learned that a credit card stolen from one of the cars had already been used at the USA gas station on Tucker Rd. Surveillance tapes from the gas station indicate that it was the same car that was seen at the school district office.
Later in the day, stolen property from the vehicles at Tompkins Elementary was found behind the Denny’s restaurant in Mojave. Surveillance tapes indicate that the same car was involved.
Suspect Vehicle Description:
New, white, Kia Optima, possibly 2013 model year, paper dealer plate on front, possible unknown California license plate on back. Vehicle believed to be possibly from the California City area.
Suspect Description:
Two Hispanic males, possibly in their 20’s, both with slender builds.
The Tehachapi Police Department encourages anyone who sees a vehicle matching this description to immediately call police dispatch at (661) 821-3239.
News Release - February 19, 2013
Police Investigate Alleged School Shooting Threat
prepared by Jeff Kermode, Chief of Police
Tehachapi -
In response to several media inquiries, the Tehachapi Police Department is releasing the following information.
On February 16th, the Tehachapi Police Department received a report of a possible threat of a school shooting that might occur sometime in the future at Monroe High School in Tehachapi.
A Monroe High School student had overheard two other Monroe students talking on campus. One of the students allegedly had made a statement to the other about bringing a gun to school and shooting people. The student had been reported as making the statement in a “joking manner.”
The third student reported the conversation to an adult, who then reported it to the Tehachapi Police Department. The TPD initiated its school threat protocol and interviewed the involved students and their parents. A 16 year old Monroe High School student, residing in Bear Valley, admitted to making the statement, but said that he was only kidding. He also admitted that it was a “dumb thing to say”. Officers conducted a search of the student’s home for firearms and found none. The involved student had no prior criminal history with either the Tehachapi Police Department or the Bear Valley Police Department.
The manner in which the threat was made does not appear to qualify for prosecution as a criminal threat; however the matter is being referred to the Tehachapi Unified School District for possible administrative action.
The Tehachapi Police Department and the Tehachapi Unified School District take all safety and security threats seriously and commend the student and adult for bringing the matter to our attention.
