What dept owns trucks that has green letters "Cal Fire" marking on the side? (Ukiah: homes, neighborhood)

[rhbj03]

I was followed by a white Ford 150 truck that has flashing light equipment on top and green letters "Cal Fire" or "California Fire" marking on the side for 7 miles after I got out of the town of Mendocino (went to hardware store there). How do I know it was following me? After I pulled into my community, the truck stopped at my community gate for a couple of minutes, then disappeared.

If there was a problem, I like to go to the department to address it. If there was appearance of a problem, I would like to understand it so I avoid it for the future.

So, which CA govt department owns or operates trucks with those markings? What is their business? One would think they deal with forest fires, but I wasn't coming out of the forest or anything...

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by rhbj03

I was followed by a white Ford 150 truck that has flashing light equipment on top and green letters "Cal Fire" or "California Fire" marking on the side for 7 miles after I got out of the town of Mendocino (went to hardware store there). How do I know it was following me? After I pulled into my community, the truck stopped at my community gate for a couple of minutes, then disappeared.

If there was a problem, I like to go to the department to address it. If there was appearance of a problem, I would like to understand it so I avoid it for the future.

So, which CA govt department owns or operates trucks with those markings? What is their business? One would think they deal with forest fires, but I wasn't coming out of the forest or anything...

Cal Fire is owned by California, it's the government fire department basically. Similar to Cal-Trans, only fire related.

There are Cal-Fire stations all throughout those areas (Mendocino, Ukiah, Cloverdale, Clearlake, etc...) as there are forests/trees just about everywhere out that way. Were the lights on the truck "on" while following you?

[JB316]

CAL FIRE Mobile

Cal Fire is California state fire department. They have stations all throughout the state and specialize primarily on wild land firefightin; im sure (depending on which station you are at) they respond to other local emergencies as well.

That link has a list of every Cal Fire station in the state and their contact number.

[RosieSD]

This will fill you in on the important work Cal Fire does fighting wildfires in California:
CAL FIRE - Home

Living in Mendocino County, I'm surprised you've never noticed all of the Cal Fire trucks on the road there.

Just for future reference, under California motor vehicle code when an emergency vehicle is driving with flashing lights and siren, you have to pull over and yield to the vehicle. This includes Cal Fire vehicles. Since they didn't have their siren on, you were in the clear legally, but tuck that away for future reference.

I sincerely doubt the Cal Fire truck was specifically following you. Since they had their emergency lights on, it's likely they were doing official surveying rounds related to wildfires. They put those lights on when they want to signal to other vehicles that they may need to stop suddenly or pass quickly, so that's likely why the lights were on. They may have been signaling to you that they'd like you to let them pass if possible.

They may have stopped when you got to your gate to let you know that, but MORE LIKELY they just stopped because a call came in on their radio or they needed to write something down and that was a convenient stopping point.

California would be in a heap of a mess without the great work Cal Fire does to protect us and our homes from wildfires so unless you have better proof that you were being stalked by a Cal Fire crew, I'd let this one go.

[rhbj03]

I do see those trucks going up and down Hwy 1 all the time, but typically they just mind their own business. The truck I encountered just had the lighting equipment on top; the light was not flashing. Which is why I did not pull over for the vehicle to pass. I feel if I pull over to let it pass, it may seem as if I have something to hide; that is how I typically handle tailing police cars without lights flashing.

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by rhbj03

I do see those trucks going up and down Hwy 1 all the time, but typically they just mind their own business. The truck I encountered just had the lighting equipment on top; the light was not flashing. Which is why I did not pull over for the vehicle to pass. I feel if I pull over to let it pass, it may seem as if I have something to hide; that is how I typically handle tailing police cars without lights flashing.

On curvy back roads or highways it's typically proper "etiquette" to let faster moving vehicles pass. Maybe he was tailgating you and was pi$$ed you were going to slow for him

[phantompilot]

Originally Posted by rhbj03

I do see those trucks going up and down Hwy 1 all the time, but typically they just mind their own business. The truck I encountered just had the lighting equipment on top; the light was not flashing. Which is why I did not pull over for the vehicle to pass. I feel if I pull over to let it pass, it may seem as if I have something to hide; that is how I typically handle tailing police cars without lights flashing.

Well its not possible to do this on the coast, but if you think someone is following you, just make a series of right turns. If they make three turns with you, then you're being followed. Easy.

The police often follow people while running a plate. If they are close to you and it makes you uncomfortable, then best thing to do is pull over immediately and then they will have to decide to keep going or to pull behind you.

[OwlKaMyst]

Dude, cannabis is legal now. No need to be so paranoid ;D

However, there have been many fires happening. With it so hot, I'm sure they are just keeping an eye out on things.

[lae60]

May be that they were doing a timing run as in 'how long will it take us to go from our station to this development?' and you were just caught in the timing run.

OR maybe they were running you as your vehicle matched a description of an arson case, or you were in an area where an arson fire was started (arsonists often return to the starting point to look at their sick work).

Or maybe they were cleaning the restroom and deep cleaning the kitchen at the station and the guys just wanted to burn time so the work was done before they returned to the station, ya never know.

[rhbj03]

Let me share one additional minor detail; see if you think I should be creeped out by the event. The truck actually pulled over about 600 yards before my neighborhood's entrance; I could see it in my rear view mirror. So the cars behind then passed the truck and were following me. I thought to myself "OK, it's gone". Not that I have anything to hide, just that it's an awkward situation to have an official vehicle behind you -- you don't want to go over the speed limit one bit, but you drive below the speed limit some get irritated; you end up having to watch the speedometer all the time which is a pain.

So then I drove the final 600 yards with other private vehicles following me; then I turned into my neighborhood and my driveway which is about 100' from the community gate. As I parked and unloaded stuff from my car and begin to go inside the house, I saw that truck standing outside the gate! I went inside and looked out the window and it was still there for another minute.

What puzzles me is, does Cal Fire have any business following a private citizen, other than if they suspect arson?

I had thought of approaching the person to see what's going on, but decided against that for fear that it could be taken as confrontational. Would that have been proper?