Thumbnail photo: Crescent City Fire and Rescue held its annual Fourth of July water ball tournament on Friday. | Photo courtesy of Crescent City Fire and Rescue Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting: Crescent City Fire & Rescue’s 125th anniversary: After his dad, Rich Wier, accepted a proclamation from the mayor commemorating the local fire department’s 125 years of service, City Manager Eric Wier urged people to take a look through the fire station windows. “You’ll be able to see some of this legacy,” Wier said. “You’ll be able to see the pictures of the chiefs on the wall and there’s only six — six in 125 years. You’ll be able to see an old fire pump that actually has the two handles where you had the firemen on either side pumping from a cistern. We’re talking 1900 protecting this community. It really says a lot when you say the heart and soul of this is the volunteers.” The Crescent City Volunteer Fire Department was established in 1900 to serve the community, while the Crescent Fire Protection District was established in 1949 to serve the greater Crescent City area. The city’s proclamation also mentions the efforts of former fire chief Steve Wakefield who saw the volunteer department and Crescent Fire Protection District merge about 10 years ago to form Crescent City Fire and Rescue. When introducing Assistant Fire Chief Rich Wier to accept the proclamation, Crescent City Fire Chief Kevin Carey noted that Wier had been a volunteer for 49 years. Carey also introduced councilors to the department’s other assistant chief, Dennis Sutton. The younger Wier pointed out that the volunteer fire department responds to more than 2,000 calls for service each year. He also mentioned that late last year the fire department achieved a Class 2 ISO rating. The Insurance Services Office assigns a public protection agency a classification on a scale from 1 to 10 with Class 1 being the best. This for-profit organization determines this score based on gauging a department’s emergency communication systems, staffing, training and equipment as well as its water supply. On Monday, Wier pointed out that having a Class 2 ISO rating puts Crescent City Fire & Rescue among the top 7 percent. “Most paid departments aren't in that classification,” he said. “You’re in the same grouping with LA City Fire and San Francisco and those types of rankings that are in that upper tier of Class 1 and 2.” Reserve Officer Program Councilors finalized an ordinance needed to make Crescent City’s reserve officer program official, though the police chief said one person who expressed interest wouldn’t be able to volunteer for the program. “You need to go through the academy — the modules that coincide with which level you can be a peace officer [at],” Police Chief Richard Griffin told Councilors. “It looks like that person will be a volunteer for us so they’ll be a little more limited in what they can do, carrying firearms and stuff like that.” The other candidate Griffin had in mind, former police officer Magnolia Valero, is ready to go. Griffin said she’s already provided support for the police department. According to Griffin, reserve officers fall into three classifications defined by the California Penal Code. A Level III reserve officer requires supervision by a Level I reserve officer or a full-time police officer. Their duties are limited to traffic control, security at parades as well as sporting events, taking reports, transporting evidence, parking enforcement and other duties “not likely to result in physical arrests.” A Level II officer has completed the Police Officer Standards and Training basic course for police officers and is assigned to general law enforcement duties. A Level I officer can be on patrol and do investigative work on their own and have full arrest powers, according to Griffin. According to the chief’s staff report, total one-time costs for establishing the program can be up to $9,050 depending on how extensive the POST background investigation is. There’s also annual costs of $3,955, not including the two body cameras and Tasers that will be assigned to the reserve officers. Griffin also states that CCPD has enough duty weapons to support two reserve officers, while annual training will be conducted in-house. Reigniting the fire debate: Coming on the heels of what officials agreed was a successful Independence Day holiday, Councilor Jason Greenough asked his colleagues to consider the city’s fire-on-the-beach ordinance. “A lot of people like to go down to the Battery Point Lighthouse area to enjoy the fireworks and have a small warming fire,” Greenough told his colleagues. “If we could make it so that area can still be utilized and safe, for people to safely have a warning fire, that would be preferable in my opinion.” Greenough asked staff to bring back modifications to an ordinance he and the previous Crescent City Council approved back in 2020. That ordinance prohibited fires on the beach between the vista area near the lighthouse north to Preston Island as well as on private property unless there was written permission from the owner. In areas where beach fires are permitted, the city’s ordinance stated that fires can be no larger than 3 feet in diameter, 2 feet in height and must be located at least 25 feet from structures or vegetation. On Monday, City Manager Eric Wier reiterated that the city has an ordinance prohibiting fireworks between Preston Island and Battery Point. South of Battery Point fires have to be in a designated fire ring, he said. Greenough said that while there are designated fire rings at Beachfront Park, there aren’t any fire pits elsewhere. Wier said staff would look into the issue of fire rings and report back to the City Council.