Welcome to my CDF/Cal Fire Registry History Page. My name is Gilbert Belcher , and this is a short Historical perspective of my time with the organization. My Training, Assignments, Calls, Incidents and Adventures that I recall as vivid memories. My co-workers and friends often called me Gil .
My First Assignment with CDF began in : 1948. I Retired in : 1981
Assigned Work Locations : Due to his many stories he had written and published, many of which will be published here, I felt we had enough information to include some of his History with the CDF. JUNE 1948 – JANUARY 1951 I was a fire fighter in Orange county and had passed the drivers’ tests. I was interviewed by Ranger Truman Holland and Wad Sherman, Associate Ranger at Perris CDF. Headquarters. They told me about the relief drivers ‘job between Blythe and the Blythe Air Base, about the area, weather, cost of living, housing, and the distance. At that time, it was one-hundred-eighty-six miles away. I had recently married and needed a year-round job. Although I had three seasons with the Cleveland National Forest and two and a half years in the Marines, home for me was Corona. The Blythe fire truck was housed in the Volunteer City Fire Station, a two story cement block building. Henry C. Abel was the senior driver and lived upstairs; I believe he was about 50 years old. The fire truck was a military 4-wheel drive Chevrolet with a front mount Champion Darely pump. I can’t remember the drivers’ name at the old army air base. I believe his first name was Frank. He didn’t stay long and I became the Air Base Driver.
Favorite Assignments : The State War Assets Department were selling buildings, mess halls, and barracks. They had an office at the fire hall, so we had company for awhile. Charley Still was the Assistant Ranger and hated the desert stations. He would arrive falling down drunk when it was 120 degrees in the shade and bawl me out for not wearing a tie! There were two fire trucks at the air base; a Dodge Crash Truck with a mid ship bean piston dump and foam, a 1941 Chevrolet with a Champion Darely front mount pump, both former G.I. trucks. There was also a F.AA 24 hour a day office for aircraft to check in with, a search light tower, and a very large wood hanger. Mel Dennis had a flying service station business. He stored private planes, gave flying lessons, repaired, restored, and gassed planes that landed. A lady from Blythe ran a small sandwich shop. Mel had a wife and daughter, his father also stayed with them. They had converted an office building into a nice home. A Mr. Snider and his wife worked for the county as a maintenance man. He spent most of his time keeping the water system working. He too made a home out of a barracks. It was west of the runway. He filled the swimming pool and we spent a lot of time in it. Earl Warren was the State Governor at that time. The payroll arrived late each month, once it was 3 weeks late. Henry Able would loan me money each month, or we would have surely starved. Able was a bachelor. His only interest in a woman was if she was a good cook. He didnt like Levi pants or western music, and the only books or magazines allowed in this station was railroad or western He loved to fish and hunt ducks. We put up two flag poles at the air base station. A layer of new sheet rock was put around the lower walls of the outside, then the station was painted white with green trim. It looked good compared to the drab G.I. buildings. There was a bermuda lawn around the station and a small berm around the outside the edge of the lawn. A fire hydrant was turned on to flood the lawn. This caused all the scorpions and other critters to enter, or crawl into the building. In two-and one-half years, I was only bit by one black widow spider and stung by one scorpion. There were also a fair number of Sidewinder Rattle Snakes killed there.
Most Interesting Calls : Fires consisted of air craft, cars, trucks, structures, and many haystacks. The longest time period without a fire was three months. We responded to several fires on the Arizona side. A P-51 and a B-25 collided north of Blythe. The P-51 pilot parachuted and broke an ankle. Four perished in the B-25. A F-4U Corsair landed one evening from the El-Toro Marine Base and spent the night at the station. Also, a P-51 overheated and landed. A crew was flown in with a replacement engine and the crew spent a week at the air base station. We had several extra beds and plenty of shower water. Many, many, spent the night there and were most welcome as it was a very lonely assignment. Desert turtles would crawl into the shade and the fire station, most had initials carved into their shells and dates as far back as 1900. When watermelons came into season, they cost five to six cents a pound. We’d have to wait till prices got down to a penny a pound. Wages back then were around two-hundred dollars a month. Ranger Holland and his wife would come to town and go fishing with Abel. I would often shut the air base down and cover Blythe if a relief driver was not available. Bob Neely became the relief driver; he was also single. We tore down some barracks to salvage lumber in order to build other Schedule “A” stations. The buildings were built at cost + 10%, so if a building was framed in a day, then two days were spent pounding extra nails in it to increase the cost. Being a wartime rush, the lumber was of poor quality…a 3 or 4 common. By the time we got the nails out, we often had nothing but scrap! Bob and I would start at dawn and quit at noon. When we had a load of usable lumber, a CDF. stake side would come down and get it. Mel Miller replaced Charlie Still as Assistant Ranger. The Blythe station construction was started. Butch Harris, as I remember, was the carpenter foreman. Many came down at times to work; Fred Cain, Jack Cruesto , Frank Welch, Cy Holmes, and many others I can’t remember. Bob Poore was the vacation relief driver. I spent a month or so at Indio, Palm Desert, and Desert La Quita. In Palm desert and Desert La Quita there wasn’t much except real estate signs and flags. The fire stations were rag camps…a flag and a little shade. The air base was a B-24 bomber base during the war years. When one crashed, a bull dozer dug a big hole and the plane was buried. This was at a time when wives were being asked to donate their aluminum cookware to build airplanes! The county sent two men and a dozer to the airbase to dig up air craft . A former government employee, Mr. Downs, remembered where many were buried. These planes were dug up, rolled around to get the sand out and put into huge piles. Junk dealers from all over arrived and bid on the scrap. The scrap price of a b-24 bomber was approximately two-thousand dollars. The county made some BIG bucks. One of the dozer operators had a Stearman airplane. The wife and I got flights around the area. Both operators stayed at the fire station, good company. I suspect many airplanes remain buried in the desert. I could write a book about the work, the fun times, the one man, one fire truck, and the screwball fires I was on I consider it to have been very good experience.
My thoughts about my time with CDF and some Comments for those considering joining CDF/Cal Fire : Mel Miller spun stories about the far north of California; the trees, snow, rivers that flowed in the summer, deer hunting, wild land fires, winter construction, and road maintenance. Real forestry! Mel talked me into taking the 1950 foremans’ exam. I passed number one on the promotional list ..much to the amazement of everyone in the Riverside unit Len Chatten was on the Oral Board. My family now had two sons. A man named Barney became the relief driver, Bob Neely was off to be a Navy pilot I reported to Placer County Headquarters, Auburn CA as a fire fighter foreman on February 1,1951. Emery Sloat was the unit ranger. I retired a Ranger 1 in 1981. Many thanks to the Riverside County Fire Department and to Mel Miller, Assistant State Forest Ranger. Gilbert E. Belcher Oak Run, CA 1997 Gilbert Belcher passed away in January of 2008. Gilbert has written many great stories and had some interesting adventures during his career with USFS and the CDF. Watch our stories catagory to read more of his history and adventure as we find the time to publish them.
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