On behalf of the volunteers working on the Spanish Ranch Memorial, we wanted to give an update.
The group has been meeting for over two years and we are very close to seeing our efforts realized. The simple memorial has two purposes. One is to honor the four men who died as a result of the 1979 Spanish Ranch Fire and the other is to provide a place for firefighters to learn fire safety. To those ends we now have the plaque that will sit on top of the simple memorial foundation (attached photos). This plaque will sit on a simple stone pedestal at the entrance to Chimineas Road off Hwy 166 where you can see or access the hill where the firefighters were overtaken. We have been working closely with Bob Stafford from the State Dept. Fish and Wildlife who manages the land where the memorial will be. This project will also improve the access and parking to this public land, both goals of the Dept. of Fish & Wildlife. We have been fortunate to have John Wallace, who was once a Hot Shot firefighter, to donate his engineering services to make sure that we are addressing any access issues off the State Highway. Fortunately, between our Forester Alan Peters, John Wallace and Bob Stafford we are able to make sure all the environmental reviews are addressed and no impact occurs to any biological and cultural resources. As we get closer to the time to install the memorial we will need some volunteers to help build it, plant a few oak trees, build a wooden kiosk, maybe a bench and install some barbwire fence around the parking area. While the plaque was already purchased by the donations of a few of us, we could use a few dollars to purchase some concrete, stone, trees and fencing material to complete the memorial and parking area.
If you would like to help with this, simply send a check to Captain Jason Potts at the SLO County Firefighter’s Benevolent Fund noting it is for the Spanish Ranch memorial. Once we have the memorial completed, we will hold a memorial unveiling event at the site and invite the families of the four firefighters who died and all of you who want to join us in keeping their memory alive.
SLO COUNTY Firefighter’s Benevolent Fund, C/O Capt. Jason Potts, 635 North Santa Rosa St., San Luis Obispo, 93405, designate that it is for “Spanish Ranch Memorial”.