CPF Backs Plan to Boost Wildland Firefighting Resources
California Professional Firefighters is supporting Governor Schwarzenegger's reported proposal to improve our state's ability to prepare for, and respond to, devastating wildland fires.
Responding to last year's devastating Southern California firestorm, the governor's budget includes a plan to add more than 100 new mutual aid fire engines, all pre-positioned with local governments and immediately available for response to major fires. The budget will also include stable, permanent funding to fully staff CALFIRE engine companies.
"With the second 100-year fire in the last four years still fresh in our minds, the very nature of the fire danger in California has changed," said Lou Paulson, president of California Professional Firefighters. "The governor's proposals recognize this stark new reality and responds by getting more resources where they're needed the most."
The proposals directly address the two top priorities of the independent Blue Ribbon Task Force, a coalition of fire professionals that has been working since 2004 to identify ways to make California fire safe. California Professional Firefighters is one of the founding organizations of the task force, along with the California Fire Chiefs Association, CALFIRE Firefighters and local fire chiefs from areas hardest hit by wildland fires.
The additional resources will be financed by a 1.25% surcharge on residential and commercial property. Paulson said the proposal recognizes the burden imposed on all of California's citizens as well as state and local government.
"When California burns as it did last fall, there are no jurisdictional boundaries - we are one statewide fire department," said Paulson. "The risk is statewide, the response is statewide, and the economic impact is certainly statewide."
The pre-positioning of state and local resources during a wind event last November, clearly shows the importance of being prepared. The governor's proposals recognize the need to prepare ahead of time, and helps increase the fire service's capacity to respond with force when fires erupt.
"The governor's budget proposal, as best we understand it, funds those priorities and does it in a way that reasonably spreads the burden," concluded Paulson. "We applaud the governor's aggressive actions in support of increasing fire protection and prevention in California. We also appreciate the insurance industry's support for this effort."