Dustin "Dusty" Martin took on the role of CP Fire Chief in mid-2022. He is no stranger to Cameron Park or El Dorado County, having worked for the Cal Fire Amador-El Dorado Unit in 2006 and becoming a fire captain at Cal Fire’s El Dorado Station 43 in 2010. Dusty and Cameron Park Battalion Chief talked to us about Cal Fire and its role providing fire fighting services to the Cameron Park CSD, and about fire safety. Cal Fire has a wide range of responsibilities. In addition to getting men and engines to the scene of a fire for fire fighting, Cal Fire is involved in lifeguards at some CA beaches, maintaining and flying fire-fighting air tankers at McClellan Airport, training fire fighters and ambulance services. In Cameron Park there are two stations, two engines and two men per engine, including at least 1 EMT per engine. A question was raised about whether the CSD is considering closing one station and reducing the number of engines by 1. Dusty confirmed that those discussions are happening, but the CSD is gathering community input and the decision has not been made yet. Even though there is mutual aid between fire jurisdictions, the loss of a station and engine will definitely increase some response times. |