CalFire coping with fewer firefighters on engines
By Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee
Just north of Highway 180 in Fresno County, a wildfire in mid-June ate through thick grass, burning into oak woodlands and roaring up steep hills.
For firefighters, it appeared to be a routine event. Six engine teams, including five from CalFire and one from Fresno County, attacked from two sides. Firefighters carrying heavy, 300-foot hose extensions ascended the rocky terrain. They doubled back for additional hose, stretching their water lines and attempted to circle the fire before it leaped a ridge.
But, under state budget cuts, CalFire was battling the blaze with three firefighters per engine instead of the normal four-man crews used in the wildfire season. They couldn’t get water around the fire in time. It jumped the ridge and devoured the next canyon.
The incident on what one fire captain called “a standard wildfire” stoked fear over whether staffing cuts are affecting first-strike capabilities of firefighters to stave off severe wildland events.
“I really thought we could catch it,” CalFire Capt. Doug Freeman said. “Basically, with the fatigue factor (of using a three-man crew), we just couldn’t.”
Freeman summoned reinforcements as the blaze that he thought could have been kept to less than 10 acres spread to 133 acres and cost $300,000 to put out.
As California closed a gaping budget deficit this year with sweeping cuts to numerous agencies, it saved $34 million by cutting 750 seasonal CalFire firefighters. That means one less person per engine unit to haul thousands of feet of hose lines and share the exhausting physical rigors of battling wildfires.
In the Sacramento region, the cuts mean a total of 29 fewer CalFire firefighters in El Dorado and Amador counties and 44 fewer firefighters assigned to the Nevada, Yuba and Placer County region.
It is truly sad that a very few CalFire employees squandered overtime dollars fraudulently with CalFire. Those dollars might have gone a long way towards actually fighting fire.
Another example is… sending out notices of property inspections in registered letters with return receipt requested at a cost of $6.13 each. I received one for a Meyers rental property at which they felt the lawn needed mowing and the wood pile should be moved further from the house. All well and good, but wouldn’t a 44 cent stamp have sufficed instead of the $6.13 for the registered letter on top of the staff time to fillout and address the letter, return card, etc. It is no wonder the overtime was squandered, perhaps on these letters?