October 06, 2004
No one listening to San Diego Fire Chief!
Chiefs voice concern over region's firefighting readiness
Tue Oct 5, 8:45 PM ET
Local - San Diego Daily Transcript
Nearly a year after the Cedar wildfires destroyed about 2,200 homes in San Diego County, the region remains susceptible to another massive conflagration, according to California fire chiefs who are both "confused" and "disappointed" by state Legislators' lack of action.
Speaking at a meeting held by the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security on Tuesday, a panel of fire chiefs from around the state presented a bleak assessment of the region's firefighting advances.
Jeff Bowman, fire chief of the city of San Diego, said, "This entire group of people at this table is utterly frustrated."
In short, none of the fire chiefs were impressed with what's been done over the past year.
William McCammon, past president of the California Fire Chiefs Association, said, "We are poised for the same situation. All we need is wind and an ignition source, and we can be in the place we were last year."
The fires that raged across six counties in Southern California -- including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura, San Diego, Riverside and Orange -- destroyed 3,631 homes and burned 739,597 acres of land.
Following the fire, former-Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites) called for the formation of the Blue Ribbon Fire Commission to study successes and failures of the firefighting effort.
The committee submitted 48 recommendations on ways to improve the firefighting capabilities for the state that ranged from purchasing more equipment to clearing more dead brush and other ignition materials from forests.
William Bamattre, fire chief for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said that just three of the recommendations have been completed, 19 are being worked on and 26 have seen little or no progress.
One specific point of frustration: Four out of five commission recommendations that resulted in amendments proposed and approved by the state Legislature were subsequently vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites).
The only piece of legislation that passed was authored by Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, and requires all cities in high-fire zones to submit safety elements for review by the state.
The four failed bills would have allowed easier access to aircrafts for disaster response; required the state Fire Marshal to compile response time and staffing level information from local response services; rework the safety element requirements for high fire hazard severity zones; and require the Governor's Office of Emergency Service to acquire 150 additional fire engines.
Addressing the vetoes, Bowman said the ruling was "confusing" because the proposals had the support of the Blue Ribbon Committee.
Bowman also noted that Schwarzenegger has had no communication with the fire chiefs regarding his dissatisfaction with the amendments. Bowman suggested a face-to-face meeting to discuss the importance of taking action quickly.
"How can we work on fire issues in California if we are being ignored," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=312
Tue Oct 5, 8:45 PM ET
Local - San Diego Daily Transcript
Nearly a year after the Cedar wildfires destroyed about 2,200 homes in San Diego County, the region remains susceptible to another massive conflagration, according to California fire chiefs who are both "confused" and "disappointed" by state Legislators' lack of action.
Speaking at a meeting held by the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security on Tuesday, a panel of fire chiefs from around the state presented a bleak assessment of the region's firefighting advances.
Jeff Bowman, fire chief of the city of San Diego, said, "This entire group of people at this table is utterly frustrated."
In short, none of the fire chiefs were impressed with what's been done over the past year.
William McCammon, past president of the California Fire Chiefs Association, said, "We are poised for the same situation. All we need is wind and an ignition source, and we can be in the place we were last year."
The fires that raged across six counties in Southern California -- including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura, San Diego, Riverside and Orange -- destroyed 3,631 homes and burned 739,597 acres of land.
Following the fire, former-Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites) called for the formation of the Blue Ribbon Fire Commission to study successes and failures of the firefighting effort.
The committee submitted 48 recommendations on ways to improve the firefighting capabilities for the state that ranged from purchasing more equipment to clearing more dead brush and other ignition materials from forests.
William Bamattre, fire chief for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said that just three of the recommendations have been completed, 19 are being worked on and 26 have seen little or no progress.
One specific point of frustration: Four out of five commission recommendations that resulted in amendments proposed and approved by the state Legislature were subsequently vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites).
The only piece of legislation that passed was authored by Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, and requires all cities in high-fire zones to submit safety elements for review by the state.
The four failed bills would have allowed easier access to aircrafts for disaster response; required the state Fire Marshal to compile response time and staffing level information from local response services; rework the safety element requirements for high fire hazard severity zones; and require the Governor's Office of Emergency Service to acquire 150 additional fire engines.
Addressing the vetoes, Bowman said the ruling was "confusing" because the proposals had the support of the Blue Ribbon Committee.
Bowman also noted that Schwarzenegger has had no communication with the fire chiefs regarding his dissatisfaction with the amendments. Bowman suggested a face-to-face meeting to discuss the importance of taking action quickly.
"How can we work on fire issues in California if we are being ignored," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=312
