The Holy Jim Volunteer Fire Department (HJVFD) is a group of firefighters in remote Holy Jim Canyon in the

Cleveland National Forest Cleveland National Forest encompasses 460,000 acres (), mostly of chaparral, with a few riparian areas. A warm dry mediterranean climate prevails over the forest. It is the southernmost U.S. National Forest of California. It is administered by th ...

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

. The chief of the department is elected to the position by members of the community and department. The members of the fire department are certified and trained in

basic life support Basic life support (BLS) is a level of medical care which is used for patients with life-threatening illnesses or injuries until they can be given full medical care by advanced life support providers (paramedics, nurses, physicians). It can be pr ...

and fighting

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

s. The department performs 2 to 3 rescues of lost hikers a year and maintains its own stationhouse, one

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an i ...

, six 5,000 gallon water tanks, a mile of water lines in the canyon and maintains its own weather station gauge at the stationhouse.

Orange Coast Magazine ''Orange Coast'' is an American lifestyle magazine published for the Orange County, California region. Established in February 1974, ''Orange Coast'' is the oldest continuously published lifestyle magazine in the region. ''Orange Coast'' includ ...

featured a four-page article on the firefighters in October 2008. The station house now has only one fire engine. The other engine, Gertrude, was donated to a museum.

References

* * * * * * *

External links

Holy Jim Volunteer Fire Department Articles and Bylaws
Cleveland National Forest Fire departments in California Emergency services in Orange County, California Orange County, California 1961 establishments in California {{Firefighting-stub