Local agencies prepare for fire season

This is supposed to be the beginning of the fire season … but it actually started some time ago. Throw a pandemic into the mix and it makes for complicated times for firefighting.

Here’s how some local firefighting departments are doing:

– Marysville Fire Chief Ron Karlen said the department has already responded to numerous vegetation fires as early as April. As the fire season intensifies, it puts more stress on the organization.

“The normal calls for service surpass the current capabilities of our staffing levels and fire season only compounds that issue,” Karlen said.

Added to the normal challenges of fire season are the safety precautions the department is taking to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Karlen said firefighters are wearing masks when working closely with

other firefighters and the public.

“Operations while on a large campaign fire are being drastically changed in order to reduce the potential exposures to firefighters assigned to an incident for several days.

His biggest concern this fire season is staffing levels for the department.

“We struggle to respond to calls every day and the fire season tends to up our call volume,” Karlen said. “Vegetation is already at critical levels for burning conditions and the forecast is for a long and dry summer ahead with a predicted longer fire season.”

Earlier this month the Yuba Water Agency approved a grant application from the city of Marysville to give $17,500 to the Marysville Fire Department’s seasonal firefighter program.

As part of the program, the department will hire three firefighters who will work approximately four months during fire season, according to Karlen.

“They will assist with vegetation management and support additional staffing for emergency responses,” Karlen said in an email.

The money from

YWA covers half of the approximately $35,000 program. The department also applied for a grant from the Marysville Levee Commission and will present the application to the commission at its regular meeting on July

28.

“The program allowed us to assist the Marysville Levee District with levee burning and vegetation removal in Hollywood Trailer Park,” Karlen said. “The program also augmented staffing for a second vehicle, which allowed us to handle backto-back calls.”

– Yuba City Fire Chief Jesse Alexander said his department has been training since April to be prepared for fire season and the different challenges it throws firefighters. He said the department does not hire additional staff during fire season.

“We’re expected to wear many hats and not just wear them but be experts,” Alexander said. “... This year is lining up for another busy fire season.”

He said what makes this year unique is having to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic while continuing the job of fighting fires. While the actual fighting of fires will

remain unchanged, almost everything else will be affected in some way.

“COVID makes everything more challenging,” Alexander said.

The biggest impact will be on incident base camps that will be set up to fight larger fires and will house firefighters from multiple agencies. Alexander said his department hasn’t been a part of an incident camp as of yet but is confident the protocols that Cal Fire and the California Office of Emergency Services have put in place will keep firefighters safe.

He said his biggest concern this fire season is the same as every fire season: Sending firefighters into situations where their lives are at risk, even with all the training and preparation at their disposal, because some fires act in ways that training can’t prepare a firefighter for.

– Sutter County Fire was awarded a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that allows them to add an additional firefighter to each engine at its five stations, according to Fire Chief John Shalowitz.

Last weekend, he sent a strike team to assist in the Badger Fire in

Yreka. This first strike

team assignment for this fire season will help the department get accustomed to the new protocols in place to keep firefighters safe from COVID-19 when fighting fires. Shalowitz said base camps can have upwards of 3,000-4,000 firefighters who need to be fed and housed over several nights.

“They’re getting creative on how they’re doing feeding,” Shalowitz said.

Groups of about 25 firefighters are being fed in isolated areas and not mingling with other groups of firefighters, according to Shalowitz.

“When they’re actually out fighting the fire nothing’s going to change,” Shalowitz said.

Shalowitz said there is always concern during even a slow fire season for the potential of large fires. He said the fuels from the last few years are still out there and still have the potential to cause wildfires. Despite that, he is confident in the capability of firefighting agencies across the state to respond.

“California’s so good at managing these things,” Shalowitz said. “We’re pretty well prepared.”

– In a normal year, Cal Fire enlists the services of 21 inmate hand crews

during fire season. The Nevada-yuba-placer Unit typically has four or five of those crews working on clearing dry vegetation. This year, because of the pandemic, Cal Fire NEU has just two inmate hand crews working, so it needed to hire professional firefighters to fill in the shortage of personnel, according to public information officer Mary Eldridge.

Earlier this month,

Gov. Gavin Newsom approved an additional 858 firefighters to fill hand crew positions for Cal Fire, according to Eldridge. Of those, between 13-17 went to Cal Fire NEU. The firefighters added this year are professionals who can do hand crew work, as well as fighting the fires.

Eldridge said training and preparation for fire season began as far back as February this year.

“We’re kind of past the point of getting prepared,” Eldridge said.

She said the drought of a few years back killed trees that are still part of the fuel bed.

“When we look at fuel models it’s definitely a concern,” Eldridge said. “… That fuel has not necessarily been removed.”

Another change in protocol at base camps this year will be having daily briefings done over radio instead of everyone gathering in person. Eldridge said these base camps house firefighters from all over the state who have not seen each other for a year creating a community atmosphere. She said certain shared activities had to be adjusted or not done because of the pandemic.

“This year, that’s not the model because we need to have that social distancing,” Eldridge said.