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Fire chief says Lake Elsinore treated 15 acres of fuel break; warns fire season is now year‑round
Summary
Riverside County Fire Department reported 1,769 incidents in the quarter, an average response time of 4.6 minutes, and treatment of about 15 acres in a narrow fuel break; Cal Fire crews, CDCR crews and contractors were identified as executing the work.
Riverside County fire officials presented the Lake Elsinore quarterly incident report for Jan. 1–March 31 and described ongoing fuel‑break work and regional mutual‑aid operations.
Fire Chief Dustin Reed said the city logged 1,769 incidents in the quarter with an average response time of about 4.6 minutes. Chief Reed reported four residential structure fires, about 61 traffic collisions (roughly 9% of call volume), nine vegetation fires and roughly 1,329 medical‑aid calls, which he said comprised about 75% of the department’s call volume for the period.
Mutual aid and inspections: Chief Reed described mutual‑aid exchanges across the region: Menifee, Wildomar and Riverside County assisted Lake Elsinore and vice versa. He said Riverside County assisted 1,904 times during the quarter, help received from Menifee totaled 30 incidents and Wildomar assisted 48 times. The Office of the Fire Marshal completed roughly 703 plan reviews with a 10‑day average turnaround and 39 fire inspections, compared with the department’s two‑day goal.
Fuel‑break work: Chief Reed said crews have treated approximately 15 acres of a narrow fuel break that runs from the backs of homes out to roughly 300 feet. He identified contractors and crews as county‑hired contractors, Norco crews (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation crews), and a Los Pinos crew near Ortega Highway. Reed said there are four crews working in the area and two crews at Norco during active operations.
Chief’s assessment of fire season: Reed said the scale and frequency of wildland fires have changed in recent decades and told the council he does not see a distinct multi‑month “fire season” anymore. “I don’t see the fire season being 6 months anymore... it’s gonna continue to just be a year round fire season,” he said, and cited investments in aircraft and rapid vegetation dispatch as part of the response strategy.
Council response: Council members thanked Reed and his staff and asked questions about who is performing the fuel‑break work and about seasonal risk. Reed answered that a mix of county‑hired contractors, CDCR crews, and other crews are conducting the treatments, and he emphasized regional mutual aid and aircraft resources as key to keeping fires small.
No formal council action was taken on the item; staff said work will continue and that the city benefits from countywide cooperative fire services.
