By Fire Captain Tim Chavez, San Jacinto FFS

 

San Jacinto Forest Fire Staion

By learning something about our history and repeating it to those who come after us, we form a common foundation to build this great department. Here is just one example: Charles Van Fleet.   A street in town bears his name and some of his artifacts are stored at the San Jacinto Forest Fire Station.   But who was he?

 

Ranger Charles Van Fleet

Charley was born in Los Angeles at the end of the 19 ^th Century.   In 1899 he moved with his family to San Jacinto, the first incorporated city in Riverside County.   Van Fleet graduated from San Jacinto High School in 1913.   After graduation he worked for a local power plant and for the Southwestern Bell Phone Company. Charley was an eyewitness to the destruction of San Jacinto twice by earthquake, in 1899 and 1918.  

 

In 1925 he became a “Fire Warden and Forwarding Agent” for the Riverside County Board of Forestry (a precursor to the fire department) in the San Jacinto Valley.   This would be the beginning of a firefighting career that would span nearly 40 years.   Charley was available by phone at “San Jacinto 980”, with 10 men and tools available, according to the 1928 Fire Plan.

In interviews, Charley mentions the 1928 fire season as being the worst in Riverside County experience.   That year 157,000 acres burned in the young county.   A fall fire starting in the Bautista Canyon would come over the mountain and burn almost to Vail Lake.   Charley’s only tool was manpower.   Fire Wardens were given the power to “draft” men into service.   This mostly meant unemployed and men from bars in the area.  

In 1929, CDF spread to the southland, including Riverside County.   Previously they had only covered the timbered north state.   Charley was hired and Ed Nelander came from Santa Rosa to assist.   The two of them were the CDF.   The Riverside County Headquarters was a small gray building at the corner of First Street and Sheriff Avenue in San Jacinto, built by Charley on his own land.   This building is on display at the San Jacinto Forest Fire Station’s grounds on First and San Jacinto Street.   It was moved (rolled down the street on telephone poles) in 1984 after being donated by Mrs. Van Fleet.

 

Ranger Van Fleet’s office in San Jacinto, ready for a fire, around 1930 Van Fleet and Nelander split the county in two and in the following years built a fire protection system that became the concept of “Integrated Fire Protection”.   In the San Jacinto Assistant Ranger District, four stations were built.   The District covered what is now Battalion 5, 11, most of 13 and part of 3, 10 and 12.   Stations at San Jacinto, Sage, Anza and Ryan Field were staffed with a total of 16 personnel.   Tank Truck firefighting was pioneered by these men.   San Jacinto had Tank Truck 1, a Morland constructed by the Division of Highways for CDF, License E 53-01.   If the truck was needed, you had to call “San Jacinto 981” on the phone.

 

The big move.   Ranger Van Fleet’s office is moved to the San Jacinto Forest Fire Station grounds in 1984 following his death. 1928 Moreland “Tank Truck 1” The San Jacinto Forest Fire Station, on the current site, 1938-1980

Charles Van Fleet would remain the San Jacinto Assistant Ranger from 1929 to 1961.   Over his career he would be promoted to Ranger Unit Chief, only to demote and refuse promotion 5 more times.   He declined to promote time after time partly because Sacramento refused to move the Ranger Unit Headquarters from Perris to San Jacinto.   Charley was convinced that a person could do more in an area with which he is familiar, knows the people, and can deal with them- quoted from 1953 newspaper article.   During the Great Depression, Charley would supervise several “Unemployment Camps” that provided jobs for destitute men from all over the country.   During 1932 he would manage Camp 5 in Beaumont and later San Jacinto Camp 6 and International Camp 36.   This was the first time organized and trained hand crews were available for fire suppression.   The labor from these camps built many fire stations, lookouts, fire roads and fuel breaks all over the area.   Some of these breaks built so long ago were instrumental in stopping recent fires like the Repplier Fire in 1993, The Wolfskill Fire in 1996 and the Water Fire in 1997.   In 1938 the second San Jacinto Forest Fire Station was built on the current site, using these laborers and rock from the Colorado River Aqueduct tunnel for landscaping. The site belonged to the San Jacinto Unified School District and was leased for $3.00.   Formerly the site had a school that was destroyed in 1918.   Some bricks from that school form the bar-b-que behind the current station.

 

The County-wide fire protection system continued to grow.   More equipment and more stations came into the system.   The 1944 fire season would be particularly challenging, with simultaneous fires of 28,000 acres and 43,000 acres.   The inception of the Riverside County Fire Department can be traced to 1946, following these large fires.  

Renaissance Man of the Forestry

Charley was not just a great firefighter.   He was truly a renaissance man.   When we acquired the old station and moved it to San Jacinto Forest Fire Station, it was full of geology specimens, Indian artifacts, botany specimens, microscopes, photographs, and books; many, many books.   Most of his collection of artifacts was donated to Mt. San Jacinto College.  

Charles Van Fleet was a unique individual.   One memorable characteristic was he always wore a tie, even on fires. People have said he would come crashing through the brush, bow tie or straight tie in place.    Charley was active in the community, serving on the San Jacinto Unified School Board for 11 years, and as a founder and board member of the San Jacinto Museum.   Charley was responsible for the name of the mountain range near of town, dubbed “North Mountain” because it reminded him of the South Mountain near Santa Paula in Ventura County.   He was responsible for the cultivation of many exotic tree species that were planted all over San Jacinto.   Many exotics still stand on the station grounds.   He even attempted to return “timber” to North Mountain by planting thousands of trees in the range.   All were lost in the many fires in those mountains.   Ranger Van Fleet died in 1982.  

 

In 1997 the City of San Jacinto contract engine moved in making it a integrated facility.   In the same way a station is moved and renewed, people come and go in various positions.   There have probably been 10 San Jacinto Rangers or Battalion Chiefs since Charley retired.   Names like Bolster, Hebrard, Browning, O’Keefe, Jackson, Mello, Winder, Mason, Barron and now Michael should sound more familiar.   However, they all build on the work of their predecessor.   Charley left a legacy that is reflected in many of our actions today.   His achievements were tremendous and his community involvement, his constant striving for knowledge, and his loyalty to his duties should be a lesson for us all.  

 

 

The San Jacinto Forest Fire Station, 1980-1997