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History |
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Julian Cuyamaca Fire began in 1975 when the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection ended their contract with San Diego County to provide fire protection to the backcountry. The community realized the need for fire protection and founded two volunteer agencies to protect Julian and Cuyamaca: the Julian Volunteer Fire Company and the Cuyamaca Volunteer Fire Company. Chief Larry Tuttle was the founding chief of the JVFC. For years he served our community and passed the torch to chiefs Phil Hetzler, Mike Rogers, and Larry Hutchinson. Al Sprague served the Cuyamaca community as acting chief until 2001. |
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Julian’s first engine was an International S-1600 gas powered engine numbered 6365 which was paid for by the County to increase fire protection. This engine was later renumbered to 8211 when the company switch to the inland system and later became the first Brush 71. In 1982 the two volunteer companies consolidated their resources to form one agency, the Julian Cuyamaca Fire Protection District. The level of protection was improved now that both sides of the mountain were training together to form a uniform department. Both companies kept their chiefs (Hutchinson and Sprague) while the District was without a chief until 1990 when Larry Hutchinson was appointed by the Board of Directors as the first JCFPD chief. |
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The District up to this point had no stations. The County yard was utilized to park Julian’s engine, while the rest of the apparatus was kept at the homes of volunteers. The District saw the need for stations and in 1984 the volunteers built two stations. The Julian station was built on the outskirts of town at 2645 Farmer Road, across the street from the historic cemetery. The Cuyamaca station was built overlooking Lake Cuyamaca at 34560 Engineers Road. Both stations are still used to this day. The San Diego County Sheriffs were the sole ambulance provider to the JCFPD for several years and worked well with both companies. In the fall of 1998, the JCFPD won the contract to provide BLS ambulance service to the backcountry. Ambulance 71 protected our community for a little over a year when in July of 2000 the ambulance became an ALS (advanced life support) ambulance. Medic 71 has served our community ever since. |
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In the years to follow, Julian was served by volunteer company chiefs Larry Lewis, Kevin Dubler, and Steve Swaney under District Chief Hutchinson and Chief Stan Cornette. The Cuyamaca company was led by Chief Al Sprague until 2001 when he passed away. Chief Sprague served the Cuyamaca community longer than any other chief in recent history. The Cuyamaca station has since been dubbed “Al’s Firehouse” and is now managed by Battalion Chief George Hatton. Today the District is served by District Chief Kevin Dubler with three battalion chiefs working with him: Battalion Chief Doug Andrews, above mentioned Battalion Chief George Hatton, and EMS Battalion Chief Carolina Finch. To learn more about our chief, click here to link to his web page. |