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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16- SEPTEMBER 22, 2024
Riverside County declares local emergency for Airport Fire damage By Joe Taglieri
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Officials: Animal Services director to exit post for slot at Riverside County hospital By City News Service
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he Riverside County Department of Animal Services’ embattled director will be moving to a management position at the county hospital two weeks from Tuesday, while a nationwide search gets underway for her replacement. The county Executive Office confirmed Tuesday that Department of Animal Services Executive Director Erin Gettis will officially step down on Sept. 24 to become executive director for the Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley. Officials would not disclose whether Gettis was encouraged to take the position due to intensifying criticism of policies she implemented at animal services, which led to the filing of a lawsuit against the
joet@beaconmedianews.com iverside County officials proclaimed a local emergency Wednesday in response to the more than 23,000-acre Airport Fire. The Board of Supervisors was expected to vote on the proclamation Tuesday. If ratified, local emergency status could help make the county eligible for possible federal and state funding assistance for repairing damaged public spaces. The proclamation also allows the county to more quickly obtain items necessary for emergency response and making repairs. Personnel throughout the region from fire departments, law enforcement agencies, emergency management departments, animal services agencies and others are currently responding to the Airport Fire. As of Friday morning, the fire had caused 12 injuries to civilians and firefighters, destroyed two buildings and damaged seven, according to Cal Fire. The Orange County Board of Supervisors declared an emergency in response to the fire Tuesday. Gov. Gavin Newsom secured assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for all the fires in California, including the Airport Fire, the Line Fire in San Bernardino County and the Bridge Fire that is scorching Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties and is the state’s largest active wildfire. The Airport Fire began about 1 p.m. Sept. 9 near Trabuco Canyon Road in the area of the remote-controlled airplane airport, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Sean Doran. By Tuesday morning, the fire had raced up the canyons and hillsides and crested into Riverside County,
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county last month. County CEO Jeff Van Wagenen issued a statement publicly thanking “Erin for her efforts over the last twoand-a-half years.” In her new role, Gettis will be handling government relations, helping develop strategic plans for the medical center campus, conducting research on grant opportunities and coordinating with the chief operating officer, chief nursing officer and others to improve “patientcentered and customer-based services,” according to an online description of the job. It pays between $150,633 and $274,830 annually, and Gettis was expected to land in the upper tier, given that her current position nets her about $220,000 a year, according to public compen-
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CHP: Multi-fatality collision on Nuevo Road result of unsafe passing By City News Service
Firefighters defend an area from the Airport Fire. | Photo courtesy of the Orange County Fire Authority/X
burning toward the El Cariso and Lake Elsinore areas, where evacuation warnings and orders were in place. Orange County Fire Authority Deputy Chief TJ McGovern told reporters Monday night that county workers unintentionally started the fire. Orange County Public Works crews were using heavy equipment near Trabuco Creek Road to place boulders meant to replace barriers used to restrict access to the vegetation. At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, OCFA Division Chief Kevin Fetterman said one civilian suffered a medical emergency and one had unspecified burns. Earlier Wednesday he said most of the firefighter injuries
were heat-related, one was stung by numerous bees, another firefighter sustained minor burns and another two more suffered injuries related to the firefight. “All were released from the hospital and are doing well,” Fetterman said. The end of the region’s prolonged heat wave started to aid in the firefighting effort Tuesday night, Concialdi said. Burn scars from the 2018 Holy Fire and also in 2022 provided breaks in fuel for the aggressive blaze. “We can confirm that there were some homes damaged and destroyed in the See Airport Fire Page 02
communities around Ortega Highway,” but details were still being collected, Concialdi said. Evacuation warnings were issued for several Riverside County areas near the fire zone, generally east of the Orange County line, north of the San Diego County line, south of Bedford Motor Way and west of Interstate 15. On Tuesday afternoon, some of the warnings became evacuation orders, affecting an area generally north of the San Diego County line, east of the Orange County line, south of Lake Elsinore near the base of Ortega Highway
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fiery four-vehicle collision in Nuevo that killed five people, including two young children, was triggered when a motorist attempted to go around other cars by steering into oncoming traffic in a no-passing zone, authorities said Tuesday. “This was a horrific crash with devastating consequences for families, and it could have been avoided,” California Highway Patrol Capt. Gil Campa, commander of the agency’s San Gorgonio office, said. “That is the hardest fact to accept in this situation.” The CHP said the chain wreck occurred at 2:18 p.m. See Nuevo Road Page 28
Monday on Gilman Springs Road, near Kennedy Hill Road. A Honda Insight, whose driver has not been identified, was westbound on Gilman Springs Road when he attempted to pass slowermoving motorists, steering into eastbound lanes on the two-lane corridor, Officer Christopher Torres said. “The unsafe passing maneuver (resulted) in a collision west of Kennedy Hill,” he said. In addition to the Honda, a Dodge Durango pickup, Chevrolet Bolt and BMW 528i were involved in the wreck, which ignited a fire that consumed