BILL NUMBER: SCR 71	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  22
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  MARCH 26, 2002
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 21, 2002
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  MARCH 14, 2002

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Haynes

                        MARCH 13, 2002

   Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 71--Relative to California
Wildland Firefighters Memorial Highway.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 71, Haynes.  California Wildland Firefighters Memorial
Highway.
   This measure would designate the portion of State Highway Route 74
between Lake Elsinore and San Juan Capistrano in the Counties of
Riverside and Orange as the California Wildland Firefighters Memorial
Highway.
   This measure would also request the Department of Transportation
to determine the cost of appropriate plaques and markers showing this
special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate
sources covering that cost, to erect appropriate plaques and markers.




   WHEREAS, The Decker Canyon fire was ignited on August 8, 1959,
when a car drove off a Highway 74 embankment, crashing through brush
to the canyon floor, some 200 feet below, where the vehicle burst
into flames, and winds whipped the flames into a firestorm racing
uphill toward firefighters battling the blaze from above; and
   WHEREAS, Six firefighters made the ultimate sacrifice while
protecting and serving the people of California by battling the
Decker Canyon fire; and
   WHEREAS, Twenty-seven other firefighters were injured in the
Decker Canyon fire; and
   WHEREAS, California experiences hundreds of wildland fires every
year, and thousands of firefighters from local, state, and federal
agencies fight these fires to protect lives and property; and
   WHEREAS, These men and women of the wildland firefighting services
are dedicated in their efforts to save lives and property from
destruction; and
   WHEREAS, Nearly every year wildland firefighters are injured and
killed fighting wildland fires across the State of California; and
   WHEREAS, The dedication of the California Wildland Firefighter's
Memorial Highway will stand as a fine testament to not only to the
wildland firefighters who lost their lives at the Decker Canyon fire,
but to all men and women of the wildland firefighting services whose
dedication efforts to save lives and property from destruction
display great pride; and
   WHEREAS, It is appropriate that the portion of State Highway Route
74 between Lake Elsinore and San Juan Capistrano in the Counties of
Riverside and Orange be dedicated to the memory of wildland
firefighters who have made the ultimate sacrifice in their service to
the people of the State of California; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the portion of State Highway Route 74
between Lake Elsinore and San Juan Capistrano in the Counties of
Riverside and Orange is hereby officially designated the California
Wildland Firefighters Memorial Highway; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to
determine the cost of appropriate plaques and markers, consistent
with the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing
the special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate
sources covering that cost, to erect those plaques and markers; and
be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit a copy of this
resolution to the Director of Transportation.