By Patric Hedlund, TME

“Mountain Strong!” said a man with “We the People” and “In God We Trust” tattooed on the inside of his left forearm. The soft-spoken retired nurse across from him joined in. At the other end of the café table, Kathleen Weinstein looked up from her notes with a smile.

This is the trio of local neighbors working to resurrect the Mount Pinos Community Fire Safe Council. That was as close to a fist-pumping moment as Edward Rieth, Peggy Hoyt-Voelker and Kathleen Weinstein got last week. But their earnestness is compelling…..

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Photo captions:

Above: Catastrophic wind-driven fires are no longer freakish once-in-500-years events. The impact of climate change is a fact in California, as it is in Australia. This California Army National Guard photo was taken from a Black Hawk helicopter in November 2018, dropping water over the Camp fire that destroyed the town of Paradise, California.

Below: Ed Rieth of Pine Mountain Club and PMC Director Peggy Hoyt-Voelker are excited to invite all the community to a February 23 Meet & Greet at the Chuchupate
Ranger Station.

The Three Musketeers (l-r): Peggy Hoyt-Voelker, Edward Rieth and Kathleen Weinstein are working with residents of Tehachapi and Kern River Valley to create the Kern FSC, an umbrella group with regional chapters, such as our newly re-booted Mount Pinos Community Fire Safe Council (FSC).

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This is part of the February 14, 2020 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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