Fire Season: Local Cuts Put Mutual Aid at Risk
Fire Season: Local Cuts Put Mutual Aid at Risk
When it got its name on the morning of May 2nd, the Springs Fire was a 100-acre brush fire along US 101 near Camarillo. Within 48 hours, it had charged to the Pacific, threatening highpriced homes in Malibu. By the time it was out, 25,000 acres had been burned across more than a dozen square miles.
“I can’t remember, in my 36 years, the last time we had a fire this early in the year that marched all the way to the ocean,” said Kim Zagaris, Cal EMA’s Fire and Rescue chief.
Miraculously, only a handful of people were injured, and no homes were destroyed, thanks to more than 1,500 firefighters and personnel from nearly a dozen agencies. That so many firefighters were on scene was, itself, something of a miracle.
“There were no other major incidents anywhere else in the state, so departments had the resources to send,” said Chris Mahon, president of Ventura Co. Professional Firefighters Local 1364. “We got lucky.”
Budget Cuts Stress the System
The 2013 Fire Season is off to a bad start: as of the end of May, the number of fires was up 35% over 2012, with nearly six times as many acres burned. By some estimates, the effective fire season began as much as two months before the official mid-May kickoff. But this heightened danger comes at a time when layoffs, station closures and a “cut-first” climate has decimated local capacity.
“With no other fires going on in the state, we were able to use the mutual aid system as it’s intended,” said Mahon. “We know that’s not always going to be the case going into this fire season.”
“When you look at the service cutbacks we’ve seen over the last several years,” wondered CPF President Lou Paulson, “the question has to be asked: Will we have the resources to meet the threat? Truthfully, we don’t know the answer to that question.”
Quantifying the problem is difficult, but Zagaris estimates the optimal mutual aid capacity of 1,100 engines could be down by as many as 200. In most cases, local agencies might just send fewer than otherwise expected, but some could simply refuse to send anyone. Moreover, the U.S. Forest Service recently announced it would have 50 fewer engines available for response, courtesy of the federal budget sequester.
“We have the finest mutual aid response system in the world, (but) the system is only as good as the participation from our local agencies,” said Cal EMA Director Mark Ghilarducci. “The impact of the economy at the local level has taken its toll.”
“Our system is being put to the test, and it’s happening because of the economic situation,” added Zagaris.
Meeting the Test
With no end to the budget slashing in sight, state fire officials are pleading with citizens to take every precaution against the coming onslaught. “Whether it’s clearing property or maintaining defensible space or knowing evacuation routes, the citizens are always going to be our first line of defense against wildland fires.”
For local firefighters, the reduced mutual aid capacity increases the need to be well trained on wildland firefighting safety techniques in order to better handle local incidents. The new “Fighting Wildfires” training program – available to all fire departments in California through the California Fire Fighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee – provides solid fundamental training on fireground safety and wildland firefighting techniques.
In the end, California’s ability to adequately deal with the wildland fire threat will depend on Mother Nature and political will. “The reductions at the local level don’t just affect those individual departments,” noted Zagaris. “They affect our ability to respond throughout all of California.”
“Firefighters have never shrunk from a challenge, least of all when it comes to protecting their communities,” concluded Paulson. But if local agencies don’t take a hard look at the destructive fiscal cuts, I fear we might face a long, hot summer.”