State Boosts Arsenal for Wildfires

After the first major wildfires of the year, the state announced Monday that it would add nearly 200 firefighters and prisoners to help Southern California prepare for what authorities say could be another devastating fire season.

The additional staff, plus 10 refurbished firetrucks and an extra water-dropping helicopter, were included in an executive order by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that increased funding for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection by about $14 million this year, said Mike Chrisman, state resources secretary, during a news conference Monday in Hemet.

“The governor’s act will make a significant difference in our ability to respond to fires,” he said.

But the state’s firefighting ability may be hampered by other developments. The U.S. Forest Service and Interior Department announced Monday that they had grounded 33 large firefighting air tankers because of concerns that the planes were too old and might no longer be safe.

State forestry officials also acknowledged that their agency might face a serious budget shortage during this fire season because of a legal challenge to the state’s newly adopted fire protection fees.

Last year, then-Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature adopted a budget that cut $50 million from the CDF this year and another $50 million next year. To recover the money, the Legislature approved a bill that allows the CDF to charge a fee to property owners who benefit from state fire protection. The fee would generate $50 million a year.

The state’s largest farming organization, the California Farm Bureau, sued the state in February, calling the fee illegal because it was not approved by a two-thirds majority of both houses of the Legislature, as required for new taxes by Proposition 13. The state argues that, as a fee, it is not a tax that must meet that requirement. The $35 a year would be assessed against each of more than 1 million property owners across the state, including many farmers.

If the lawsuit is successful, CDF will be forced to cut as much as 13% of its fire protection forces, including firefighters, tankers, bulldozers and helicopters, said CDF Chief Deputy Director Ray Snodgrass.Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service and Interior Department canceled contracts to lease 33 airplanes modified for dropping water or retardant on fires. Nine of those planes were assigned for use in California.

The federal agencies decided to stop using the planes after fatigue cracks were found in several of the aircraft, some of which are 60 years old. In 2002, an air tanker crashed south of Reno, killing three men, when the plane’s wings fell off.

But U.S. Forest Service officials say their ability to protect Southern California during the current fire season won’t be jeopardized because the agency has increased the number of water-dropping helicopters it will use in the state, from 19 to 25, said Matt Mathes, a spokesman for the Forest Service in California.

He said helicopters are often more accurate and quicker to refill than air tankers.”It would be irresponsible to continue flying planes like that,” he said.

Schwarzenegger’s executive order to boost firefighting resources came only days after crews spent most of last week fighting six fast-moving brush fires in San Diego, Riverside and Los Angeles counties.

The two biggest fires raged for six days and charred about 25,000 acres before they were contained Friday.

Under the executive order, staffing for 53 fire engines operating in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties will grow by about 90 firefighters for this fire season.

Also, 10 outdated fire engines that were scheduled to be sold will be refurbished and deployed to those three counties. Forty more firefighters will be hired to staff those engines. The executive order also provides funding for four more conservation camp fire crews, each consisting of 16 state prisoners and a fire captain to supervise them. Prison crews typically use shovels and hoes to create fire containment lines.

The governor’s order also will allow the state to hire another helicopter for San Diego County during the next few months.A blue-ribbon panel created to study the response to last year’s devastating wildfires noted that some officials were concerned because many San Diego County firefighters had already been sent to fight the blaze dubbed the Old fire in the San Bernardino Mountains in October when the Cedar fire -- San Diego County’s deadliest blaze -- erupted.

Snodgrass said state fire officials and municipal fire chiefs were meeting to discuss mutual-aid agreements and had hopes of resolving some of those concerns.

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State’s largest

Two of Southern California’s wildfires last fall -- the Cedar and Old fires -- rank among the state’s biggest.

Largest California wildfires in recent decades, by acreage burned

Acres Struct. Fire name County Date burned burned

1. Cedar* San Diego Oct. 2003 273,246 2,820 2. Matilija Ventura Sept. 1932 220,000 0 3. Marble Cone Monterey July 1977 177,866 0 4. Laguna San Diego Sept. 1970 175,425 382 5. McNally Tulare July 2002 150,696 17 6. Stanislaus Tuolumne Aug. 1987 145,980 28 7. Big Bar Trinity Aug. 1999 140,948 0 8. Campbell Tehama Aug. 1990 125,892 27 9. Wheeler Ventura July 1985 118,000 26 10.Simi* Ventura Aug. 1996 108,204 300 11.Highway 58 San Luis Obispo Aug. 1996 106,668 13 12.Clampitt Los Angeles Sept. 1970 105,212 86 13.Wellman Santa Barbara June 1966 93,600 0 14.Old* San Bernardino Oct. 2003 91,281 1,003 15.Kirk Monterey Sept. 1999 86,700 0 16.Refugio Santa Barbara Sept. 1955 84,770 20 17.Fork Lake Aug. 1996 82,980 40 18.Scarface Modoc Aug. 1977 79,904 0 19.Las Pilitas San Luis Obispo July 1985 74,640 41 20.Manter Tulare July 2000 74,439 15

*Statistics may change as final figures are tabulated Source: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection