Ahead of the fire

The catastrophic Wine Country fires last fall awakened every Californian to the need to rethink how we prepare for and fight fire. “The whole landscape has changed,” said Anne Kronenberg, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Services.

Kronenberg and San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne HayesWhite have joined other local and state departments seeking an additional $100 million allocation in the state budget to help put firefighters in the field, at the ready, before fire ignites. Of that, $13 million would go to update fire communications and GPS systems. There is a separate $25 million line item in the proposed budget to double available state fire engines by buying 110 new rigs, each to be housed and staffed by local fire departments.

Lawmakers have two weeks to thrash out a budget from the Assembly and State versions and present it to the governor. The Senate version includes a one-time extra $25 million to help put firefighters into high-risk areas when its very, very hot, dry and windy. There is no extra money in the Assembly version.

California’s Mutual Aid System is an internationally known model for allocating fire resources. But it’s beginning to falter. Even though the state’s current budget included $25 million to beef up mutual response, thousands of mutual aid requests are going unfilled because local fire departments can’t leave their communities uncovered. The state Office of Emergency Services used to say it could muster 200 or more strike teams (teams of five engines, 20 firefighters and five team leaders) in a few hours. The Wine Country fires proved that wrong when commanders on the ground requested 305 mutual aid engines but only 138 responded within the first 12 hours.

The state needs to help firefighters get ahead of the flames and keep an emergency from becoming a disaster. Even as we are advocating spending restraint generally, exceptions must be made for investments that save money — and save lives. This is one.