News: Cal Fire Battalion Chief Zimmerman retires from service

Bill Zimmerman will retire from the California Department of Forestry.

As a youngster growing up in Blythe, Bill Zimmerman never thought much about working in the fire service. A regular at Sunday school and church, when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would often respond that he would like to be either a pastor or a doctor.

He remembers school field trips to the fire station on Barnard, where the foreman (the old title for fire captain) Johnny Reams would give them the grand tour of the station and the equipment. But he still didn't really think that being a fireman was what he wanted to do.

"I think my dad would have liked me to follow in his footsteps and sell insurance," Zimmerman said, referring to his father, Frank, who had a successful insurance agency in Blythe for over 25 years. "I thought about that, too, but it just didn't interest me all that much."

One day in 1974, while working at Imperial Hardware, which was then located on Spring Street, he remembered hearing the old city fire siren that was used to summon the Blythe Fire Department to fires. He watched out the old loading dock door as the volunteers began showing up at the fire station just across the railroad tracks.

"I told the guy that I was working with that one day I would be doing that," Zimmerman said. "I was thinking more in terms of being a volunteer fireman than a career firefighter."

Soon after, Zimmerman joined the Palo Verde Valley Volunteer Fire Department, which his brother, Bob, had been a member of for a few years. At the time, the volunteer fire company supplemented the Riverside County Fire Department in the Palo Verde Valley.

"Once I got involved with the volunteers, I was hooked," Zimmerman said. "Fighting fires and responding to emergencies was very exciting; you got to be where the action was."

In July of 1977, after three years of volunteer service and numerous tests, Zimmerman was finally selected to be a fire apparatus engineer with the California Division of Forestry, now Cal Fire. (Riverside County contracts with Cal Fire for fire protection in the unincorporated areas of the county).

"I knew I wanted to work in Blythe and because there were a couple of openings here and I was the only person who actually asked to come to Blythe, they gladly complied," he said. "

After a six-week academy, he was back in the valley alternately manning the four county fire stations in the area; Blythe, Ripley, Blythe Air Base and Lake Tamarisk in Desert Center.

"Back then there was only one person on duty at all but one of the stations, Blythe, where there were two," he said. "When you went to a fire, you were on your own until another engine showed up or the volunteers arrived in their own cars."

He remembered a fire he went to in Ripley shortly after graduating from the academy.

"Someone came to the door one night and said that a house was on fire down the street," he said. "I looked out the door and I could see flames from the fire station. I donned my turnouts and drove down Neighbors Blvd. to the fire. The house was about half involved so I pulled some hose, put on my breathing apparatus, charged the hose and it broke. I had to pull another hose and there were people throwing rocks through the windows to try to help, but that only helps the fire breathe better. I had to yell at them to stop and I dragged the hose around to the back of the building to try to make an interior attack but I could only go in about 20 feet. I sprayed a bunch of water but it didn't do any good and with only 500 gallons of water in my fire engine, I knew I was fighting a losing battle. More engines finally arrived and we put the fire out but not before the house was a total loss. It was quite a baptism by fire."

After working in the area for about eight years, Zimmerman accepted a position as a fire crew captain at the Owens Valley Conservation Camp in Bishop and moved there in the summer of 1985.

As a crew captain he supervised up to 17 California Department of Corrections inmate firefighters on what is commonly referred to as a hand crew. On a daily basis he supervised his crew on projects ranging from picking up trash along the highways to construction projects. In addition, the crews responded to fires all over the state.

"I remember one of my first assignments on a large fire in 1986," he said. "We were in the Stanislaus National Forest in central California and we could see a smoke column that just seemed to disappear in space. It was huge. We were sent out to the line and our three crews stopped in a clearing to try to figure out exactly where we were supposed to be. All of a sudden flames started jumping up out of a deep gully behind us. I'm thinking we're not going to put this fire out with shovels and dirt and what the heck are we doing here? Well, I was the only one concerned. We were much farther away from the fire than I thought but it sure got my attention."

Zimmerman spent almost a month in the Klamath National Forest and responding to fires in other areas of the state during the fire siege of 1987.

After about three years, he began to miss Southern California and applied for a transfer.

"The Owens Valley and the Inyo National Forest, which surrounds it, is an incredible area with so many beautiful places," he said. "Working in the area I was able to see places and things that most people don't even know exist. I was very lucky to have been able to work there. I learned a lot in the Camp Program, it was great exposure to other aspects of Cal Fire."

Zimmerman's transfer came in August of 1988 and he found himself stationed at the Yucca Valley Forest Fire Station in Yucca Valley. Again he was in a somewhat unfamiliar environment but because of the people working at the station, quickly felt at home.

"I was at Yucca for over six years and I'd have to say it was probably the best six years of my career," he said. "I thoroughly enjoyed my co-workers and it was just a great place to work. We always had a lot of fun."

While stationed in Yucca Valley, because it was a state funded fire station, he again found himself "touring" the state during the summer fire season. In 1989 he was sent to central California again, this time on a fire engine. As part of a five-engine strike team, his engine went to the Madera Fairgrounds where they commonly stage fire engines for deployment to fires in the foothills of the Sierras when all of the local resources are busy on other incidents. While heading north to another staging area, they were diverted to a fire somewhere in Northern California.

"To this day I'm not exactly sure where we were," he said. "We were sent in at night and were some of the first fire engines on the fire. My engine and another engine were sent up this road to try to keep the fire from crossing to the other side. It was thick vegetation and I don't think we ever had a chance of stopping the fire.

"Anyway, we got a ways up the road and the fire is burning pretty hot on our right. All of a sudden my engine dies. I remember trying and trying to start my engine without success. I radioed the engine in front of us and they came back to help. I jumped out to start the auxiliary pump for protection and one of my firefighters said to me 'you're not going to let us burn up, are you Cap?' I told him no but even I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. We finally figured out that the engine had sucked an ember into the air cleaner and set it on fire. We tossed the air cleaner and made a hasty retreat, watching the fire cross the road as we backed out. It was a scary few minutes."

At the end of 1994, opportunity came knocking in the form of an offer to join the Fire Prevention Bureau in the San Bernardino Unit of Cal Fire.

"Not everybody gets asked to go into fire prevention, so I was honored to be considered," Zimmerman said. "It wasn't easy to leave Yucca. I really liked it there but this was something I almost could not turn down."

The Fire Prevention Bureau provides the public with information on how to prevent fires, but is also the law enforcement arm of Cal Fire.

"I went through our law enforcement academy in Ione for 16 weeks in 1996 and came out a state peace officer with about the same authority as a CHP or a Fish and Game officer," he said. "It was a big deal for me."

Zimmerman worked in fire prevention in San Bernardino until the end of 1998 when he got an opportunity to transfer back into Riverside County. He was working out of Perris and Indio in 1999, when a fire occurred in the foothills above Corona. Zimmerman was the on-duty investigator and responded to the fire.

After talking to a few people, he and another investigator were able to develop some leads that eventually led to the arrest of an arsonist who had intentionally set the fire. Because of their hard work, the two investigators were commended by the city of Corona in their annual police and fire recognition dinner.

"It was certainly a great honor for me," Zimmerman said. "You don't expect to have someone make a big deal out of you just doing your job. The fact is that arson is quite often a very difficult crime to prosecute. In most cases, the evidence is destroyed by the fire. In this case we just got lucky and had some good witnesses and, frankly, some criminals that were not too smart."

In 2000, Zimmerman learned that the battalion chief in the Blythe area was thinking about retirement. While Zimmerman had not given much thought to ever returning to work in Blythe, this seemed like another golden opportunity.

"I waited patiently for two years, making sure all of the right people knew that I was interested in the job if it became available," he said.

Finally, in 2003, he was offered the job and was able to return home.

"I'm the first person from Blythe to become the battalion chief in the Blythe Battalion, and the first volunteer firefighter from Blythe to promote through the ranks and return as the chief," he said. "Actually, I consider myself a very lucky man."

Since his return, the local county fire stations have seen many changes. In 2003, two brand new fire engines were delivered to the battalion, one to the Blythe Station and one to the Blythe Air Base Station on the Mesa. In addition, in 2004, the three valley stations all increased their staffing level from two to three permanent firefighters on each engine, including one paramedic.

"We have come a long way from the days of one-person engines," he said. "I still have a hard time believing that this is the same department I came to work for in 1977. The Riverside County Fire Department is the third largest fire department in the state."

Additionally, last year construction was started on a new fire station in Ripley, with completion expected very soon.

"Both the Ripley Station and the Blythe Station are over 50 years old and we outgrew them several years ago," Zimmerman said. "I had hoped that I might see the completion of the Ripley Station and a new Blythe Station on the drawing board before I retired but I'll have to be happy with just seeing a new station in Ripley this year. I know they will eventually build a new station to replace the one on Barnard.

When asked what he plans to do after retirement, Zimmerman said that he has a lot of projects in the works around the house that need to get finished.

"Then I'll decide what I want to do after that," he said. "I definitely plan on staying in Blythe for several more years. It's my home. It's was a great career, and all of a sudden, 30 years doesn't seem like all that long of a time. I'll miss putting out fires and being where the action is; I guess I could become a volunteer again."

Source: Times