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THURSDAY Reader Traveling Team Photos MAY 23, 2013 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 5A SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Mostly sunny 73/53 Weather forecast 8B TEHAMA COUNTY DAILY 50ยข T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Inmate crews gear up Councilman questions RBFD doughnut runs By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Red Bluff City Councilman Rob Schmid questioned the fire department's policies Tuesday regarding its usage of the fire truck around town for non-emergency errands suggesting there were more efficient ways to get doughnuts. Schmid often makes jest of the time he spends combing the city's warrant list while having dinner before City Council meetings. This frequently leads to a series of questions to department heads over expenditures when the list comes up for council approval. Schmid's questions often begin with stating how much the city spends on employee retirement funds. They did again Tuesday before Schmid's critique of city spending continued on to expenditures of $2,364 in fuel and $2,941 for an alternator replacement made by the fire department. Schmid said he had concerns about nearly $6,000 of the department's roughly $8,000 in monthly bills being used to maintain the fire truck. Schmid said the truck is often seen around town, See RBFD, page 7A Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb An inmate fire crew from Devil's Garden in CalFire's Lassen-Modoc Unit practices hitting the ground Wednesday in case of fire retardant deployment at the Ishi Camp's 2013 preparedness exercises in Paynes Creek. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer CalFire inmate fire crews from Salt Creek and Devils Garden were two of 47 crews from across California Wednesday to be evaluated over a three-day period at the Ishi Preparedness Exercise. Crews were brought for the day to the Ishi Camp near Paynes Creek to be evaluated and make sure they were ready for fire season, said CalFire Tehama-Glenn Unit Public Information Officer Kevin Colburn. "It's hands-on practice in preparation for the upcoming fire season," Colburn said. "It is vital that crew members acclimate themselves for the warmer weather ahead to reduce the heat-related injuries that can occur in the fire environment." On a pass-fail system, the inmates are graded on everything from tool readiness in a drill called "tooling up" where they inspect their tools to a station on how well they deploy their shelters, which are used if needed to take cover if a crew were to be overtaken by fire, he said. "This is for when a crew is about to be run over by a fire for reasons such as a sudden wind shift where they cannot get to the safety zone," Colburn said. "This is your last resort." CalFire Evaluators Howard Drummond and Pat Purvis graded crews at the shelter deployment speech and gave them feedback at the end. "In 99 percent of the entrapment situations, no one, including air tack, can see you," Drummond, who was standing directly in front of the crew, said. "There's so much smoke, you can't see from me to you. you have to rely on your senses. All the information your body tells you to do." One example being if one side of the group is getting a lot of heat, to move away from the heat, he said. He said the group should not take shelter under a tree or other areas where heavy debris might fall on them. "We mix things up for every evolution," Purvis said. "Things like we pull the captain out and have the swamper take over to see how they work cohesively and if the swamper can control a small group by himself. They have a lot of variables thrown at them because it's all about preparing them for the unpreparables." The two evaluators talked with CalFire employees observing the drills in between groups about things like the equipment used and changes made. The evolution of the shelter, which was made bigger and better able to reflect radiant heat about five to six years ago, started with the death of members of a hot shot fire crew at the Devil Fire in Santa Clara County, Drummond said. One of those who died had a family member who was in the aerospace industry, which resulted in a new material being used for the See INMATE, page 7A Cops seek clues in trio of burglaries By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer The Tehama County Sheriff's Department released details involving a residential burglary that occurred Saturday as a 13-year-old Cottonwood girl hid in a closet. Around 8:45 a.m. the girl placed a 911 call from the 18000 block of Bywood Drive stating she was home alone and three men had come inside her residence and stolen property, according to a department press release. The girl told the dispatcher she hid in a closet when she saw the three men trying to make their way into the residence. When one of the men opened the closet she was hiding in, all three men quickly left the residence. The girl said the sus- pects were driving a white car with a black raised strip on the sides. She said all three suspects were white adult men and the one that found her in the closet was between 20 to 30 years old, about 6 feet tall, thin, with dark hair and a black circle tattoo on his shoulder or upper arm. The other two suspects were the same age range and build. Deputies conducted a traffic enforcement stop on a similar vehicle, but determined it was not the vehicle and allowed the subject to leave. They also contacted a subject walking in the area whose clothing matched the description of one of the suspects. He was arrested on an unrelated felony warrant out of Plumas See TRIO, page 7A County OKs Red LM Mayor's Race is in full swing Cross shelter possibilities By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer It was already on the Tehama County Board of Supervisors' agenda before the recent events in Oklahoma, but the disaster there gave gravity to Tuesday's action. The board approved a series of agreements with the American Red Cross for the non-profit to use four countyowned facilities as temporary shelters for disaster relief in the event of local emergencies. The agreements allow the American Red Cross the use of the Veterans Memorial Hall facilities in Red Bluff, Corning and Los Molinos as well as the Ridgeway Park Recreation Hall facility at 19725 Ridge Road in Red Bluff. The Northern Cali- 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 fornia Division of the American Red Cross is in the process of updating its disaster relief coordination, including updating all facilities that may be available in the North State that could be used as temporary refuge for disaster victims. The Veteran House Committees and the county have authorized the facilities to be surveyed by the Red Cross. The surveys look at capacity, geographical characteristics, amenities, safety and availability so that the right facility will be available if needed. There is no initial direct financial impact to the county. Under the agreements water, gas, electricity, waste disposal and custodial costs at each facility would be reimbursed by the Red Cross at reasonable, actual, out-of-pocket operational costs. The Honorary Mayor's Race is on in Los Molinos. The candidates are raising funds and the competition guarantees lots of activities to choose from. Scheduled events include raffles, barbecue's, cow chip bingo, poker rally and, of course, the jar displays scattered all over town to collect your dollars and spare change. Visit any of the local businesses to vote for your favorite candidate by putting money into their jar. Buying votes is an honorable thing here with the Mayor's Race. Of course, the goal is to raise money for our 46th annual Independence Day Parade and PlayDay In the Park. This year's parade theme is Let Freedom Ring. Please join the fun by entering the parade and winning prizes and trophies. There are lots of categories in which to participate. Every registered child in the parade gets a bit of cash and a free raffle ticket to win one of three bikes. Don't wait to put your money into a candidate's jar and participate in the Fox many events taking place all around town as we gear up for a grand time this July 4th. Parade entry forms are tucked into the jar display racks. The Los Molinos Chamber will be selling fireworks again this year; watch for the awesome Patriotic Sales Wagon. Vote often and enjoy the very special activities leading up to the Independence Day Parade. Call 530-384-2251, visit www.losmochamber.com or send an email to lmcoc2012@gmail.com for more information. Meet the Candidates Rock has a totally different outlook regarding the festivities surrounding Carnes Southard Singer Rock the annual Parade & PlayDay In the Park. He's half of a matched pair of giant draft horses you can see around town at different times of the year. Rock thinks pulling wagons in the parade is the best thing ever and he wants everyone to know that See MAYOR, page 7A