Public workers fought fire, flood, freeway chaos

By Gary Meyer with reporting by Patric Hedlund

Public workers had the taxpayer’s back over the holidays as the rest of us took a breather.

Water Line Break in Frazier Park
Just days before Christmas, in the sub-freezing wee hours of Saturday, Dec. 21 (around midnight), Frazier Park Public Utility District Water Manager Jonnie Allison called out his crew to fix a broken water line on Los Padres Drive and Santa Cruz Trail. By 9 a.m. Allison reported that the roadway had been reopened and the line had been repaired. He expects FPPUD will repair the roadway during the week of January 6. Another small leak was repaired on December 31 at Mt. Pinos Way and Oak Lane where the roadway will be repaired on Thursday, Jan. 2, Allison said.

Fire on Mt. Pinos
On Saturday, Dec. 21 at about 5 p.m., Mt. Pinos Ranger District Fire Management Officer John Abell was on patrol near Lockwood Valley Road and Grade Valley Road when he spotted smoke from a fire burning on Mt. Pinos. Abell called for resources. The fire, which he described as about 1/10 of an acre, was fully controlled in four hours, by around 9 p.m.

Big Rig Rollover Backs Traffic to Gorman
On Sunday, Dec. 29 at 11:20 a.m. a big rig hauling pipe overturned at the base of the Grapevine in the northbound lanes just south of Grapevine Road. CHP reported that traffic was backed up to Gorman School Road. Caltrans had the roadway cleared by about 2:30 p.m.

Photo caption:

Left, FPPUD workers repair a broken water line on Los Padres Drive; (above), the intersection of Los Padres Drive and Santa Cruz Trail after water line repairs were finished.

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This is part of the January 3, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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