A stretch of the 10 Freeway in the San Gorgonio Pass was dedicated Friday in honor of two firefighters and a pilot who died in 2023 when two helicopters collided while fighting a fire. The freeway segment will carry the names of Cal Fire Assistant Chief Josh Bischof, 46; Capt. Tim Rodriguez, 44; and their pilot in a spotting helicopter, Tony Sousa, 55.
Assembly Concurrent Resolution 37 names the stretch of the 10 Freeway between Cabazon and Malki Road, near where they died responding to the Broadway fire on Aug. 6, 2023, in their honor.
The Assistant Chief Josh Bischof, Captain Tim Rodriguez and Pilot Tony Sousa Memorial Highway will serve as a lasting tribute to the three men.
“After the tragedy, I stood on the Assembly floor to ask my colleagues to adjourn in their memory. It simply wasn’t enough,” Assemblymember Greg Wallis, R-Rancho Mirage, who attended Friday’s ceremony, said in a statement. “We needed something permanent, something on the ground in the communities they served. This highway is a small thing measured against what their families have lost, but it is lasting, and it is placed here in the heart of the community their loved ones served.”
State Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, R-Redlands; Assemblymember Natasha Johnson, R-Corona; and Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Chief Robert Fish joined Wallis at Friday’s dedication at Casino Morongo along with public safety partners and local, state and Morongo tribal leadership.
“This stretch of highway runs through the center of the 47th Assembly District, and it is a road I travel often from one end of the district to the other,” Wallis said. “Every time I pass these signs, I will think of them. Some drivers will know their story. Others will see their names for the first time and want to learn more. That is how memory works when you put a name on something permanent.”
Greg Wallis represents California’s 47th Assembly District.
