On February 11, 2025, Inland Action met with Mark Cloud – Representative with Inland Action, Government Affairs, Southern California Edison and Chief Keith Alexander – Fire Chief for the San Manuel Fire Department.
For the past 10 years, Mark has managed public affairs for Southern California Edison for eight cities in the region. One of the most recent and pressing issues was our recent So Cal wildfires, and Mark shared insights about wildfire mitigation, the Public Safety Power Shutoff, and wildfire investigations. He spoke about the importance of being registered for alerts either via text or email. Mark also shared information about the SCE energy mix which is getting cleaner as the organization continues to move forward.
Chief Alexander was appointed Fire Chief for the San Manuel Fire Department effective October 31, 2022. Keith’s 23 years of service to San Manuel began in 2001 when he joined the Tribe’s newly developed Emergency Services team. Keith was instrumental in developing the San Manuel Fire Department into a vital fire and emergency medical services (EMS) team well respected throughout Indian Country and beyond. San Manuel Fire Department is now a three station, all-risk including EMS, rescue, and fire prevention as well as a class one department. (San Manuel is the only class one fire department in all of San Bernardino County.)
San Manuel Fire Department responds to calls both on the reservation and off the reservation with 30% of the calls outside the reservation boundaries. San Manuel collaborates via the California Mass Mutual Aid program to move resources up and down the state, studying wildfires and tactics to address safety and mitigation. One reason for the fire mitigation success in our area is a focus in the foothills and front country to build firebreaks using goats to reduce the available fuel. This type of planning allows the fire department to predict the direction of a fire and address proactively.
Wildfire Mitigation will be one of the key areas of advocacy focus for Inland Action this year.