I originally wrote this earlier today as a rebuttal to a news article that implied the man named below was just someone that came in off the street to fight our serious outbreak of lightning caused fires here in Mendocino County, CA and especially in the Anderson Valley area where I live. I have edited it slightly to provide a short memoriam for a good neighbor that I never knew.
Mr. Robert Roland, age 63, a firefighter with the Anderson Valley Volunteer Fire Department died on Thursday. He had been on duty on Wednesday afternoon when he fell ill and was transported ~35 miles to the Ukiah Valley Hospital. He passed away during the early hours of Thursday, July 3rd. The exact cause of death has not been determined, but a heart attack is suspected.
Mr. Roland was a relatively new member of the AVFD. He had served for ~2 months as a firefighter ‘recruit’, joining up as a volunteer long before the current series of fires began. The AVFD is always 100% staffed by volunteers. New recruits go through a rigorous training process before becoming ‘regular’ members. In fact, Mr. Roland’s assignment on Wednesday was to act as a fire lookout rather than working directly on the fire lines. This type assignment is common practice in the training of ‘recruits’. While Mr. Roland was a relatively new AVFD member, his joining the department had nothing to do with the current fire situation, and everything to do with his desire to serve his community.
Mr. Roland and his wife moved to the Anderson Valley from San Diego ~6 months ago. He was retired from the aerospace industry and had also previously served for ~10 years as a military fighter pilot. Mr. Roland’s service to his newly adopted community as an AVFD volunteer should be reported as a continuation of his dedicated service to his community and to our Country.
May God Bless Mr. Robert Roland and comfort his family in their time of mourning.
Jerry