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ANDREBYIK—DAILYNEWS Mike Glenn, a heavy fire equipment operator who has been with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for about 10years, oversees a crew bulldozer operators Wednesday during a week-long regional bulldozer safety training course at a ranch about 25miles west of Red Bluff. ANDRE BYIK — DAILY NEWS California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection heavy fire equipment operators get reacquainted with bulldozers Wednesday before the start of another fire season during a week-long training course held about 25 miles west of Red Bluff. ByAndreByik abyik@redbluffdailynews.com @andrebyik on Twitter Red Bluff Statefirefight- ers are reintroducing them- selves with the hulking bull- dozers that carve lines up, down and around wildland to contain and fight fires. About 25 California De - partment of Forestry and Fire Protection firefight- ers from across the North State are participating in a week-long bulldozer safety training course at a couple of ranches about 25 miles west of here. On Wednes - day, heavy fire equipment operators could be seen ne- gotiating and blading the steep and rolling terrain at Burrows and Big Bluff ranches in what's being called the "Iron Incident." "We were trying to come up with something ... and we thought of iron: that's what the 'dozers are," said Jason Kane, a heavy equipment operator and the course's incident commander who's been involved with the training program for the last six years. The warm and clear af - ternoon Wednesday served as a backdrop and reminder that fire season is again bearing down on the North State, and the training exer - cises on the bulldozers and other machinery is meant to "get the operators back into familiarization with the machines and touch up on their skills," Kane said, adding that firefighters are treating the training as a real incident, albeit with mock fire. About 12 bulldozers are on hand for the training ses - sion that ends Friday, and they are a vital tool in con- taining fires. The approxi- mately 30,000-pound ma- chines can cut about one to three miles of fire lines per hour, depending on the cir- fiRe seAson FireFighters train on dozers "To actually get out, unload the dozers, let them scrape the dirt and push is really a unique feature." — Aaron Latta, Cal Fire safety officer By Rich Greene rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com @richgreenenews on Twitter RedBluff The American Lung Association's an- nual "State of the Air" report lists the Redding-Red Bluff area as one of the cleanest air in the coun- try when it comes to year-round particle pollution. Redding-Red Bluff ranks seventh on the list of cleanest U.S. Cities when municipalities are com- pared based on the amount of particle pollution found in the air year-round. Particle pollution includes a mixture of air-borne particles and liquid droplets composed of acids, ammonium, water, black carbon, organic chemi - cals, metals and soil material, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. While Red Bluff scored high on that particular comparison, Tehama County scored an "F" when it comes to the frequency of high ozone days. Four - teen such days were reported between 2010 and AiR QuAliTy report: red Bluff amongst cleanest air in the country Community.....A3 Lifestyle..........A4 Arts..................A5 Obituaries....... A7 Opinion............A6 Sports.............. B1 Daily Break......B3 indeX The annual May Madness Car Show takes to the streets of Corning Friday and Saturday. Call 824-5550for more info. To do Corning'sMayMadness Car Show begins Friday Bailey Akins homered as Red Bluff won on the road Tuesday to improve their Sac River League record to 3-3. PAGEB1 spoRTs Lady Spartans so ball beats West Valley 9-4 The election was held with thousands of troops and po- lice deployed to protect polling centers and voters. PAGE B8 Middle eAsT Iraq has first elections since US troops le Nearly 2feet of rain fell on the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coast in the span of about 24hours. PAGE B4 sToRMs Flood waters trap hundreds in Ala., Fla. Red Bluff Two Red Bluff filmmakers are finalists for a film short title "This is Santa Anita" that they produced for Horse Race Television. JC Selvester and Anthony Gilbert don't call themselves filmmakers. Selvester is self- employed and shares time in the family cattle business while Gilbert works in solar sales in Red Bluff. After a solar installa - tion at the home of Pat and George Selvester, JC's grandparents, the two got to talking about horse racing and found they had similar interests. They heard about the Santa Anita Film Festi - val on HRTV and decided to enter. They needed one inte- gral ingredient — the voice of Santa Anita, Trevor Den- man the horse caller to com- mit to an interview. Luckily he did and they took a GoPro camera and their wits to Santa Anita Race track for the Santa Anita Derby, a race that builds points toward the Kentucky Derby entrants, and did the interview. They were also able to ob - tain quick interviews with many legendary celebrities from the horse race industry as well as capture the own- ers of California Chrome's reaction to their horse tak- ing the win from their day at the track. The two are hoping to bring back to Red Bluff the coveted win for their film. You can see and vote for the film "This is Santa Anita" at http://www.hrtv. com/videos/film-festiva/ View-and-Vote/. ARTisTs Un li ke ly fi lm ma ke rs s ee k on lin e vo te s ShortfilmcapturedreactionofKentuckyDerbyfavorite'sowners The Associated press sACRAMenTo California's population grew nearly 1 percent in 2013 to exceed 38.3 million, with the highest growth rate in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to data released Wednesday by the state Department of Finance. Growth was more stagnant in Tehama County, where an estimated 197 more people lived in 2013 than the previous year — an increase of 0.3 per - cent. All of that increase was attributed to people re- siding in the unincorporated parts of the county. Red Bluff's population was reported at 14,131 and Corning's at 7,598, a decrease of one person each from the previously reported data. The city of Tehama's population stayed at 417, while the county as a whole had a reported popu - lation of 63,717. California added 356,000 people last year, the most new people in a decade. A more detailed pop- ulation report released in December said births outpacing deaths was one factor in speeding up a sluggish growth rate. Wednesday's report says San Jose, the state's third-largest city behind Los Angeles and San Di - ego, hit 1 million residents for the first time. Santa Clara County, which includes San Jose, was the fastest growing county at 1.5 percent, fol- lowed closely by Alameda County. In all, three of the five fastest-growing counties were in the Bay Area, where the economy is surging amid a tech boom. Prison inmates account for the cities with the biggest growth. Topping the list with nine percent growth in 2013 is McFarland in Kern County. Its population hit 13,700 as the state moved prison - ers to a local facility to reduce overcrowding. Tiny Calipatria and Chowchilla grew by hundreds as sTATisTiCs Tehama County seeslittle growth Increase of 197 residents TRAin pAGe 7 AiR pAGe 7 GRowTh pAGe 7 » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, May 1, 2014 50CENTS AN EDITION OF THE CHICO ENTERPRISE-RECORD 7 58551 69001 9 Volume129,issue115 Today's web bonus 'spider-Man 2'. redbluffdailynews.com BAseBAll Spartans earn split with Foothill sports B1 ConCeRT Chico State guitar ensemble A+e A5 foReCAsT High: 93 Low: 52 MostLy sunny FollowtheDailyNews on Twitter to keep pace with breaking news and events @REDBLUFFNEWS FOLLOWUS ONTWITTER