San Manuel Custom Book

tion, also an NFPA recommendation. “The tribe took seriously its responsibility to protect the 10,000 or so people who come up here to game and well as its citizens,” Smith said. “It’s a principle component of sovereignty to protect your citizens and those in your jurisdiction. Our service providers did not have the ability to meet the gold standard for emergency medical service and fire suppression. That was the genesis of forming our own department.” FILLING THE GAP San Manuel’s engine and ladder trucks are each manned by four fire firefighters, at least one of whom is a trained paramedic. The department also has a hazardous materials technician. Ambulance service for San Manuel, the county and other municipalities is contracted to American Medical Response. The department is designed to fill the gap in service to the San Manuel community. Along with its mutual aid agreement with the state and San Bernardino County, the tribe’s department has automatic aid agreements with the cities of San Bernardino and Highland and the U.S. Forest Service. The tribe also has a contractual agreement with the city of San Bernardino for training support, vehicle and equipment maintenance, dispatching and other essential services. San Manuel has contributed $2.2 million to the city for the purchase of two fullyequipped ladder trucks, a full-time vehicle mechanic and dispatcher and other items. “It isn’t necessarily always stand-alone,” Smith said of the tribe’s fire service.“But where it isn’t stand alone – where we don’t have all the capacities ourselves – we’ve got solid relationships with our two closest cities and every day those relationships work to make sure the entire goal is met, whatever we might need. We have a nexus of services to meet those extraordinary needs.” The department averages 10 calls per day. Half of the calls are from off the reservation, so the relationship between San Manuel and other departments is reciprocal. “This spirit of cooperation has been in effect for almost 10 years and is now allowing us to enhance the service to all of the citizens of San Bernardino,” Conrad said. DISASTER PLANNING The fire department is a major component in the tribe’s overall disaster preparedness strategy, which is built around the Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT. About 100 San Manuel tribal government employees and citizens are trained in disaster skills ranging from triage to search and rescue. “The operating premise is that despite our mutual aid nexus, in the first 48 to 72 hours after a disaster such as an earthquake everyone will need to be self-sufficient and survive on their own,” Smith said. “CERT will be a major asset until the search and rescue teams are deployed and mutual aid is moved across the nation and all of that wonderful stuff that doesn’t happen in the first 48 to 72 hours. That’s part of preparedness. We’ve got 100 folks trained for that.” Smith also serves as chairman of the Tribal Emergency Response Commission, which includes tribal citizen representation as well as the department heads from the tribal agencies with responseoriented missions and meets on a monthly basis to ensure coordinated emergency response and planning as well as to advise the tribe on matters of emergency preparedness and hazard mitigation. “That is our principle emergency planning council, so we adopt a multi-disciplinary approach to disaster planning, that we corroborate and that there is no redundancy,” Smith said. The fire department is part of the plan-check process for construction on the reservation, and seismic concerns are a major factor. FOUNDATION OF GOVERNMENT COOPERATION When the San Manuel Fire Department was formed, Smith launched a strategy he calls “active engagement.” He and others on his department joined a number of state and local fire associations to get the word out that San Manuel had its own department. It was also important, he said, that they enlighten those who did not regard San Manuel as a sovereign government. “We overcame that ignorance,” he said.“We all came to the table as equals. We’re all firefighters. We have equal standards. We play by the same rules.” Smith and the others found a receptive audience. And Smith found establishing automatic aid and other contractual agreements between San Manuel and surrounding fire departments was made easier by the relationship that had already been forged between the tribe and its neighbors. “There was a culture of cooperation between San Manuel and these other communities,” Smith said.“Once we turned our attention to a fire service we were able to capitalize on what already was a cooperative relationship. “San Manuel – long before thinking about building a fire department – had a strong foundation of relationships with these other governments. And that foundation was poured long before anybody thought of starting a fire department. “I tell these guys they’re driving a government billboard every time they take the engine out. They’re driving a billboard that says,‘San Manuel is a government.’ It doesn’t say,‘San Manuel Bottled Water Group.’ It doesn’t say,‘San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino.’ It says,‘San Manuel the government.’ That’s the billboard that’s out on the road. It is emblematic of sovereignty; of government responsibility.” SAN MANUEL 13

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of San Manuel Custom Book

San Manuel Custom Book Contents Editorial Chapter One: A Tribe with a World View Three Fires Make History with Sacramento Marriott San Manuel Village Nears Completion Giving is the Serrano Way Chapter Two: San Manuel Firefighters Prove Their Mettle A Day at the Office Chapter Three: San Manuel Outreach Cal State University at San Bernardino Operation Phoenix Loma Linda University Medical Center Chapter Four: Building a Tribal Government on San Manuel Behind the Scenes Frances 'Tu Tu' Morongo

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