Murrieta Fire & Rescue had humble beginnings 75 years ago

It could be argued that the first Murrieta Fire & Rescue volunteers are the Founding Fathers of the city.

There was a Thompson, a Rail and a Curran in the group — all names that now adorn Murrieta schools.

There was Victor Garrison, Oscar Matteson, Clayton Erdel and Lawrence Dunham, prominent locals at the time, 1947.

These folks weren’t elitist and they sure as heck weren’t big-city types.

They were the Murrieta of the time: mild mannered, practical, hard working and most definitely country.

It’s been 75 years since that crew of 10 started volunteering after “yet another home was lost in Murrieta due to the lack of fire protection,” writes Pat Jennings, a retired deputy chief for the fire department, in his recent story in the Murrieta Valley

Historical Society newsletter.

The department’s famous annual barbecue is set for April 23, the first one since 2019 as the event was yet another pandemic cancellation.

At least a couple thousand people show up every year, many of them fourth- and fifth-generation Murrieta residents.

The department’s clout was evident in the first city council election in 1990, when firefighters Jerry Allen and Joe Peery were the top two vote getters.

Neighboring Temecula was an economic powerhouse in the late 1980s and there was a plan to include Murrieta in its proposed cityhood boundaries.

The deal fell apart, partly because Murrieta residents wanted to retain their own identity, one that the fire department helped forge. Locals

seemed to be saying: We’ve proven we can put out structure fires, why can’t we handle bureaucratic ones?

“If the department hadn’t been there, the city probably wouldn’t have been incorporated,” Jennings said. “Local control was the big thing and public safety was number one.”

Jennings, 69, would know, considering that he and his wife, Annette, have lived their entire lives in Murrieta. Not many can say that.

As a kid, he recalls cleaning up trash from the department’s barbecue and riding around with Ira Rail picking up the eggs, potatoes, and other side dishes that had been prepared by housewives. Everybody in town pitched in.

In her book, “Murrieta Old Town, New Town,” Mary Alice Rail Boyce recalled somebody once calling in to say, “Charlie’s barn is on fire.” Unfortunately, there were about five Charlies in town with barns and a department volunteer called every one. By the time the fire had been located, it was under control.

It was the thought that counted.

Before the department formed, Boyce writes, the town cemetery burned in 2016 and historic records and wooden markers were destroyed, the Holiness Church was lost in 1921, the Historical Hall burned down in 1924, and the noted Fountain House hotel, next to the railroad line at the time, went up in flames in 1935.

The closest fire protection was Perris, not nearly close enough.

Raymond Thompson was the first Murrieta chief, serving from 1948 into the early 1970s. Marv Curran, a super nice guy who I’ve known for more than 30 years, succeeded him and served until 1992. He’s in his mid-90s now and still in town, but unfortunately I couldn’t reach him.

Jennings was a department volunteer for two years before being hired in 1989. He worked there 26 years. No wonder his newsletter history ran 11 pages. He knows the department.

He reports that in 2017, the department received an accreditation certificate from the Center for Public Safety Excellence, the first in Riverside County to be so honored by the national group.

Not only is Murrieta Fire & Rescue as local as can be, but it’s also politically powerful and nationally recognized.

Just ask Charlie — if you can find the right one.

COURTESY OF E. HALE CURRAN COLLECTION The first fire crew in Murrieta is seen in 1948. In the front row, from left, are Marvin Curran, Lawrence Dunham, Coy Burnett and Ted Sheld. In the top row, from left, are Victor Garrison, Clayton Eredel, Willis Thompson Jr., Oscar Matteson, Floyd Rail and Raymond Thompson.