I can tell you that there is a great fire community in Fresno California. www.tanjora.com can refer you to fellow burners in that area. Sorry I don't know of any specific to Stockton....Good Luck.

Hey Yo! from Sacramento. I don't know if thats close enough or not but I have family and friends in Modesto. I've been spinning fire fans for about two years. I'm not stellar good or anything, but I enjoy if and I'm good enough to impress drunk people.

A great place to start is Thursday nights in Davis witha group called Fire University. Its free, you can just watch or ask some one to teach you some moves. Its a great place to try out differnt equiptment - ie staff, poi, fans, hula hoops ect. It really gets you fired up. (he ehe ahah get it?) Any way its on E Street inbetween 2nd and 3rd. It is really worth the drive up to Davis.

firedrums.org/ - The mother of all weekend long classes. I missed it this year - put it on your calendar and don't wait to the last minute to buy tickets. Vulcan Studios in Oakland is another great resource if you want to pay for classes they do two day workshops (www.spinagogue.net/) that are a good deal for your money.

I'll be down in the Modesto area next weekend (Aug 1-2ish). Let me know if you want to meet up - I'd be happy to light stuff on fire with you :) jana

PS you should go to Burning Man too ;)