REGION: Still not ready to fight fire
Move toward regional fire agency could be pivotal, some say
By DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | ∞
Uncut brush such as this in Valley Center makes for a high-risk fire area. (Photo by Waldo Nilo - staff photographer) As San Diego County moves into that scary time of year when hot, dry winds roar in from the desert and threaten to transform even the tiniest spark into an inferno, a question lingers: Could another deadly wildfire strike this fall?
The answer, experts say, is yes.
The disasters of 2003 and 2007 reduced much of the county to ashes. But two-thirds of the chaparral-carpeted backcountry remains and would provide plenty of fresh fuel for wind-fanned flames.
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As well, last year's fires dispelled a commonly held myth that brush, once it burns, won't threaten again for decades: the 198,000-acre Witch Creek fire tore through a swath of tender vegetation that sprouted after the 2003 fires.
However, regional leaders say they are taking steps to bolster San Diego County's ability to make a stand against the next wildfire.
The county government has spent millions to clear dead, dying and diseased trees in the forest, required fireproof building materials and automatic fire sprinklers in new backcountry homes, and urged homeowners to clear flammable brush around homes, said county Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who represents Ramona and East County.
But other measures, such as building a regional fire department and assembling a fleet of firefighting aircraft, will take time and require area residents to raise their taxes ---- something that, until now, they have been unwilling to do.
Increasing taxes to increase protection
Following the recommendation of a regional panel, the county Board of Supervisors recently decided to place a $52 annual parcel tax on the November ballot. That ballot measure, which requires two-thirds voter approval, would raise $25 million for aircraft and fire engines for the fledgling regional department, and another $25 million for existing departments to spend how they see fit.
Given that there is so much more to do, though, another wildfire would overwhelm the region as badly as the last two, said former San Diego fire Chief Jeff Bowman, an Escondido resident.
Even if voters do approve the parcel tax, it won't provide money to hire regional firefighters, Bowman said.
"They have not done anything about boots on the ground, which is the No. 1 problem that firefighters face ---- that they get outmanned every time," he said.
Noting the breadth of the backcountry, where most wildfires start, county Supervisor Bill Horn defended the measure's focus on equipment.
"The area between Sunshine Summit and Fallbrook is massive," Horn said. "That's why we need air power."
In any event, Bowman was adamant.
"We're still not ready (for the next wildfire)," Bowman said. "We're not even close."
A million to one
Then again, some suggest the region, by definition, never will be ready.
Richard Minnich, a UC Riverside professor who studies chaparral fire behavior, contends there is virtually nothing humans can do to slow fires fueled by Southern California's infamous autumn Santa Anas, with their near hurricane-force winds, bone-dry humidity and hot temperatures.
In their frustration, politicians turn a blind eye to the overwhelming force of such fires, which outmatches the resources of any fire department by something like "a million to one," Minnich said. They put way too much confidence in tools such as helicopters and water bombers, he said.
"It makes no difference how many Tonka toys you've got," he said.
Still, a number of experts say the lack of a regional agency has hurt San Diego County, and is at least partly why it bore the brunt of the recent firestorms.
In the fall of 2003, raging wind-driven wildfires torched three-quarters of a million acres across six Southern California counties, killing 24 people and destroying more than 3,600 homes.
More than half that acreage, and about two-thirds of the deaths and damage, was in San Diego County.
Last October, another wave of wildfires swept across a half-million acres in four Southern California counties. Once again, San Diego County was hit hardest, with 368,000 acres burned. The county lost 1,750 homes and 10 lives.
The Old West
A blistering county grand jury report blamed the magnitude of local damage in part on the region's refusal to create a regional firefighting force, something every other large Southern California county has.
Jury members said the region's stubborn reliance on a backcountry volunteer fire protection system, which they likened to something out of "the Old West, when people banded together and formed groups to protect themselves," left San Diego County "woefully unprepared."
In their May 29 report, jury members detailed what happened in the two rounds of fires, and what experts said was necessary to better prepare for the next one ---- such as forming a regional agency and spending more money on aircraft and firefighters.
Bowman said it hasn't helped that agencies in San Diego County have been spending a combined $470 million a year on firefighting compared to $520 million in Orange County, which has the same population, but just one-fifth the land area. Los Angeles County agencies spend $2.2 billion in a place that has many more people but about the same amount of land, he said.
"We realize that we cannot fight Mother Nature," said Michael Letendre, the 2007-08 grand jury foreman. "We're not saying that throwing money on the fire will solve the issue."
But Letendre said the jury believes a well-funded regional force can deliver a stronger, more coordinated response that saves homes and lives.
Regional benefits
Partly in response to the jury's report, and persistent criticism that San Diego-area residents are too stingy to dig into their pockets to protect their own property, the region's leaders are following through on plans for a regional department.
Leaders also recently created the position of county fire warden to direct regional firefighting efforts.
"We are trying to undo a bad decision made by the county three decades ago to get out of the fire business," said Jacob, the East County supervisor.
Jacob said the county government now is committed to spending $15.5 million annually on fire protection, which will keep more than 50 rural fire stations staffed all day, every day, all year.
She said the county is consolidating a dozen rural districts and putting full-time firefighters in areas that historically have had to rely on volunteers to douse flames. As a result, firefighters will be able to reach homes much faster than in the past, she said.
According to a new county report, firefighters will be able to travel from stations to threatened homes in less than five minutes 56 percent of the time, in five to 10 minutes 29 percent of the time, and in 10 to 20 minutes 8 percent of the time ---- or within 20 minutes 93 percent of the time.
Ralph Steinhoff, county fire services coordinator, said no reliable numbers from the past are available for a comparison because that wasn't a statistic the county kept. But he said the new times represent a clear improvement, given that backcountry stations often sat empty, forcing firefighters to respond from farther away.
Even so, the grand jury remains concerned that the county does not meet a national standard for response times.
Carl Peterson, assistant director of public fire protection for the National Fire Protection Association in Quincy, Mass., said that standard calls for full-time departments ---- such as the new regional one ---- to reach the scene of fires and other emergencies in five minutes 90 percent of the time.
County officials defend their lack of compliance with the nonbinding five-minute target, saying it is unreasonable in a diverse, spread-out, mountainous, unincorporated area.
Steve Erie, a UC San Diego political science professor who specializes in public safety issues, disagreed.
"With wind-driven events, don't you think that the same kinds of standards ought to apply, particularly when they have the potential to burn all the way to the coast?" Erie asked. "This isn't Kansas, Dorothy."
"Absolutely nothing"
Despite the new focus on a regional department, county officials dispute the notion that its presence would have made a difference last year or five years ago.
"During Cedar and in 2007, a majority of fire experts agreed that nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to stop the flames," Jacob said. "I was on the front lines both times and I heard the same thing from the chiefs in charge: The best we can do is get people out of harm's way."
Erie, the political science professor, disagreed.
"Los Angeles and Orange County and Riverside have been much more effective at early rapid response to wind-driven fires than has San Diego," Erie said. "And all of them have regional fire agencies."
He said the proof is in the numbers ---- San Diego County lost more houses and suffered more loss of life.
Nonsense, said Minnich, the UC Riverside professor who studies fire behavior. He said the losses were mere coincidence and proved nothing when set against the backdrop of the awesome power of nature.
Preparing to cope with that awesome power is something that not only fire departments must do, but something the residents of this fire-prone area must do as well, said Janet Upton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, in Sacramento.
Upton said homeowners need to clear brush around homes and make roofs, eaves, decks and outer walls fireproof.
"Living in the state of California, we have beautiful, beautiful surroundings," she said. "It is a wonderful place. But along with living here comes a responsibility. Unfortunately, there are four seasons here: fires, earthquakes, floods and mudslides."
Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.
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Tax Payer wrote on Sep 20, 2008 8:03 PM:Cal Fire says to fire proof your house.
What about upgrading the building codes so the the pillaging developers build a quality structure and not a "stick house."
Oh, and the city/county are forever liable for allowing these less-than safe/durable structures.
Escondeeter wrote on Sep 20, 2008 8:43 PM:In quoting Minnich, Downey has presented one of the first realistic opinions on this much-written-about subject. Sadly, it's intermixed with a bunch of politically inspired humbug. Just for example, the quoted response time standards are for urban areas. Nobody serving a rural area meets the five minute standard, including the "gold standard" LA County Fire Department. The reason? There isn't the tax base in rural areas to justify the density of staffing necessary to accomplish it. You can't spend a quarter of a million dollars a year to staff a station that makes two runs a month. Even if you wanted to, it would take so many of them to make the five minute standard you'd run out of money long before you ran out of county.
The key to the county's needs is to maximize the performance of existing agencies before trying to create under-funded new entities. Let's start out with the concept of giving the people who are now doing the job what they say they need to do it. Then let's develop some realistic ideas of what's possible in this environment. It won't satisfy the politicos desire to have a magical solution that assures we'll never lose structures again, but it has one element that fantasy lacks: it's possible.
Zephon wrote on Sep 20, 2008 8:46 PM:What I do not understand is that we have gone out and spent what will amount to be Trillions of dollars fighting what we call terrorists after 911 tearing down and building up the infrastructure of other countries with taxpayer dollars, blood and sweat - and with the fires that we have had, basically on the scale of 911 in damage, and we get very little action, dollars or policy decisions, to help protect us from another disaster like the firestorms we experienced.
Geez, why do terrorists even need atomic weapons and such - when they can walk across the border with a few matches and cause so much damage. You think we would try to address the potential of another catastrophe like these, bet we have not.
Think what would happen if 20 arsonists lit up SoCal on a hot Santa Ana day. Or I should say I would hate to think of it.
We are not ready!
Tax Payer wrote on Sep 20, 2008 8:56 PM:To Escondeeter:
This adds to my point.
Study the after action of FEMA. FEMA usually mandates that local developers increase their building standards/quality and prohibit building a "bare-minimum" product.
Residences today need to stand up to these possible natural events.
Hawk wrote on Sep 20, 2008 9:14 PM:Professor Erie is what I like to call an "educated idiot." Just because you have a PhD in political science does not mean you know beans about fires. Look around at the other Counties...LA, Orange, Riverside have ALL had devastating wildfires with loss of millions on dollars in property and, oh yeah, LIVES too. Why did the fires in LA and Orange stop sooner? The wild land area is smaller and they ran out of fuel sooner. But anything the the fire's path burned. Riverside regularly has large wild land fires that take out homes. The San Diego politicians can talk through their hats all they want about buying night flying copters (that WILL crash) and fire engines and super scoopers, but you watch...the next Santa Ana wind driven fire that starts a few miles inland in an area previously unburned WILL burn where ever it wants until it runs out of fuel or the winds stop. All the equipment and man power in the work will do nothing in the face of 40-50 MPH winds. Prepare your home, have an evac plan, and when they tell you to leave, LEAVE!
In other words... wrote on Sep 20, 2008 10:02 PM:As the LA looters said during the LA riots: "Burn, baby burn!"
It could happen again in SD.
Instead of this being a top priority, the county keeps stumbling along...shameful!
May God be with us in the weeks ahead.
Cardiff local wrote on Sep 20, 2008 10:04 PM:Hey Zephon- Ever thing about planning for your own future?..... If you build a house or buy a house in a fire prone zone, get ready for a fire every fall. I am so sick of people thing the government should take care of them. Geeze you dependants are panzies.
I for one will not be supporting any more fire fighting money for saving structures in the scrub brush. If they want protection they can pay for it otherwise bide your luck.
Future Gov employee wrote on Sep 20, 2008 10:24 PM:I have an idea. Let’s all become Fire Fighters. What a worthy productive profession. We all work for the Government. We all were red. How great is that? While we are at it, please someone pay for my mortgage. Its my right to own a home right? Please pay for my employment, I can not make it without government workfare.
not amused wrote on Sep 21, 2008 8:05 AM:So...one must live in cardiff as those people living in the "scrub brush" don't rate the fire fighting money to protect their homes? Hey aloof one, while your nose is that high in the air, please call the FD if you smell smoke. Or at least realize that not everyone lives in your village by the sea.
To Hawk wrote on Sep 21, 2008 8:15 AM:In large part, the reason the fires stop earlier in Orange and L.A. Counties is that they start earlier. The fire season tends to travel from north to south and the impact of the Santa Ana winds tends to travel that way too. By the time the winds reach San Diego County, half our firefighting resources are in L.A., Riverside, San Bernardino, or Orange counties, helping them.
FF wrote on Sep 21, 2008 8:49 AM:When the city fire departments (paid for by the city residents) stop responding and fighting fires in the unincorporated areas the dead beats will think differently. Why would they tax themselves for fire protection they get for free.
City residents need to question their city councils and fire chiefs about why they are paying for the county's fire protection. But, more importantly, why are their lives and property being left unprotected while their firefighters are protecting the deadbeats. Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and all the other county fire departments and residents should ask the same question.
I would take free fire protection too, if someone offered it, so I don't blame the county residents. I blame the city residents (and other counties) for allowing it. Stop responding and we will all be amazed how quickly the board of supervisors finds a way to fund a county fire department and pay their fair share.
Zephon wrote on Sep 21, 2008 8:54 AM:It is amazing how some like Cardiff Local try to twist my words as if I am asking for government handouts. Amazing.
Also I am trying to plan for the future of others far more than myself. My properties will never be in danger of fire.
Enough said about that.
Avoiding catastrophes like the wildfires we have had really is more about all of us getting involved and helping to plan for avoidance of such things in the future.
I actually think we can do it for less money than we spend today.
Hey FF wrote on Sep 21, 2008 11:27 AM:Typical City of San Diego attitude, not understanding the concept of mutual aide. Your/City priority is more FFs mean more union dues. More union FFs to get easy rural job where you make two runs a year. Maybe if you moved to the fire, regardless of jurisdiction, you wouldn't have been overrun in RB.
Ask what they need wrote on Sep 21, 2008 11:45 AM:We don't tell the military what they need, we ask them. If the san diego fire departments say they need something than they probably do. In the years I have lived here we have always tried to do things on the cheap and then we complain when we get cheap service from our public servants. I believe in capitalism and as a principle it does cost more to get more. Whether public or privite if you are not willing to pay for the better product you get the poorer quality and I think it is time we stop buying the poorer quality and fund what needs to be funded.
Why blame the unions wrote on Sep 21, 2008 1:30 PM:Why do you blame the unions for representing the firefighters. Most professional trades have unions autoworkers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and so on... Unions are not the problem. They provide a valuble representative tool for their members. These are blue collar workers who belong to a trade union, as American as it gets.
LA OC and Riv. Counties wrote on Sep 21, 2008 1:39 PM:These counties face simillar problems as San Diegans. Watch the news and see how they handle it, nice equipment and lots of it. Every time there is a fire in SD we always cry HELP for more resources then say no thank you when the bill shows up. The fires only get worse as the years have gone on, we need a better solution to this problem. When a house is buring on my block the only thing I want to see is a fire truck rolling down the street to put it out. I might complain a little about the cost but I am more than happy to say thank you when they are here to help.
To Hey FF wrote on Sep 21, 2008 6:50 PM:Did you actually read my comment? I don't work for San Diego and I do understand mutual aid. Do you understand the word "mutual"? And for your information SDFD did move to the fire, as you suggest, leaving no SDFD units to protect RB and the residents who PAID for fire protection.
Two more questions: Where did the union issue come from? and what unincorporated area do you live in?
Sleep tight, all of the FF's will do their best to protect you from your ... biased self.
PREPARE wrote on Sep 22, 2008 8:16 AM:If we get rid of the fuel before the fire starts there will be no fire. If you can't stop a wild fire, and I believe many pro, firefighters when they say you can't, then would it better to destroy the fuel. What would the cost of such a program be compared to lost homes, lives,or just the cost of fighting fires as we do now. I remember this being done in the past. How about putting prisoners to work clearing more aera, they have been used to help fight fires.
52 and wrote on Sep 22, 2008 10:24 AM:nothing will change except bigger fire department with no accountability. They keep trying to throw the fear into us with this idea that a regional fire department will solve everything. The DC10's at Magoo still sit without being converted to firefighting. 5 years now. How many new fire fighters have been hired and trained? How many NEW fire stations built and manned? Take care of the obvious first, then come beg for money!
Zephon wrote on Sep 22, 2008 10:45 AM:To Prepared:
We are on base - preparation is everything, as a Fire Department volunteer I can say that career FF do not want to go out and pull weeds and clear brush all day. It will not happen.
We can task prisoners to do this and help them pay their debt to society. They should work first near structures to clear an area to protect these structures from fire.
Then call in the pro FF's and burn what is not cleared away in a way that structures will not be in danger.
This will clear the fuel load and make us safe from catastrophic wildfires ever again if done on a continual basis.
Simple, easy and cheap.
FF wrote on Sep 22, 2008 11:31 AM:We cannot clear the fuel, those days are gone. We cannot put the fire out once it gets large. But, we cn have enough fire stations, fire engines and fire fighters to get to and extinguish the fires before they become too large. It is really pretty simple.
To FF wrote on Sep 22, 2008 12:09 PM:The Battalion Chief who was on scene within minutes of the time the Witch Creek fire started immediately requested 13 strike teams (65 engines), then later doubled that request. That's how fast a wildfire in a Santa Ana gets moving. CalFire and Intermountain Fire had apparatus on scene within minutes, to no avail. Nobody can afford the cost of providing immediate suppression for every wildfire. Los Angeles County Fire, which has a huge budget, regularly sees Malibu Hills fires burn all the way to the "Great Blue Firebreak".
Suppression has a role to play in reducing structure loss, but it's just not a viable solution for wildfires in high wind conditions, and anybody who's trying to claim that ten million dollars worth of additional fire stations is going to solve the problem is selling a bunch of hooey. Or... more likely... is a shill for the unions who are salivating at the thought of having all those additional dues-paying members.
JF wrote on Sep 22, 2008 1:19 PM:The need in San Diego County is for a increased day to day FD. It won't necessarily stop each and every Santa Ana fire. However, only about 5% of fires are Santa Ana fires.
Each and every day people die in San Diego and there is damage to property. Some of these tragedies could be averted if well trained professional firefighters (Paid or volunteer) arrived in time. Time is of the essence. Volunteers typically cannot even arrive at the station within five minutes, no less be at your house in five minutes. Nor can volunteers maintain the staffing, training or experience needed. So, I prefer that we used paid folks.
The city of San Diego is more than 50% short on staffing according to a national accreditation group. We might not be able to stop the fire, but how many more homes could've been saved with those 22 engines? Say each one saved just 2 homes... that's 44 less homes burned. Think about that. That has nothing to do with union politics. That has to do with saving people's homes.
Why is it that we won't spend a few million dollars to prevent losing a few billion dollars?
Bernie wrote on Sep 22, 2008 1:49 PM:BE PREPARED.
Read and review the wildfire zone TIP CARDS.
Has the best wildfire/fire information for SD County residents.
Google wildfire zone tip cards.
Wildfire Zone is a County of San Diego website that is up-to-date to help you REDUCE YOUR WILDFIRE RISK.
The TIP CARDS are for old homes, new homes. And small and large critters.
Do your part for you and your community starting with DEFENSIBLE SPACE.
Save your life, home, and critters.
Save our firefighters.
TheGunny wrote on Sep 22, 2008 1:52 PM:While I agree that a regional firefighting agency would deliver effective manpower and troops to the fight (engines and handcrews), some of the commenters have some misinformation.
There are no DC-10's at Pt Mugu NAS. They are C-130's that cannot be fitted with the MAFD system beacuse it's outdated and does not fit the current C-130J airframe.
Airpower does not win the fight, it supports the fight. This tactic is the same w/ firefighting and warfighting.
The IAFF locals do NOT control what happens on the line, and if you think a County FD is a tool for the IAFF, then you are truly a special education grad.
The point has been made several times throughout the article. YOU the homeowner must take stewardship for preparing your home and developing a escape or shelter-in-place plan for the next fire. Boxing your eaves, composite siding/roofs/decking and the purchase of a self applied agent is prudent and poractive moves.
Don't wait for the gov't to save you!!!
JF wrote on Sep 22, 2008 2:31 PM:Just one little question. I had to strap my water heater down to sell my house... in case of an earthquake. There are more wildfires in CA than earthquakes.
What updates should the gov't force homeowners to do to their homes before they can sell them?
Give the troops what they need wrote on Sep 22, 2008 9:55 PM:Give the firefighters the tools and equipment they need to fight the fires. When SD is burnin there is no one else who will go into a burning neighborhood and try and help out. Lets not argue about issues that are so vital to us. We have seen the fires that develop in this and other counties so lets do what needs to be done and create a fire department that can respond as needed!
To JF wrote on Sep 23, 2008 10:13 AM:Thanks for offering such a great example of the bogus arguments that are being made. You talk about saving 44 houses, then claim we'll avoid losing "a few billion dollars". That would work out to about 25 million dollars per house. There weren't a lot of those lost in Rancho Bernardo.
The real figures are closer to 700 grand per house, which puts your "savings" at 30 million, not a billion. Only, really, it's not 30 million in savings because the loss was roughly 75% insured. So, now, we're really talking about avoiding a 7.5 million dollar loss. Total costs for just labor and fringes for those 22 stations under the city's current contract would be twenty million bucks PER YEAR. So what you're really proposing is to spend twenty million dollars a year to prevent a 7.5 million dollar loss every five years.
Stick to your argument about savings lives, it's riddled with medical and geographic flaws, but it still has more merit than trying to argue that the actual savings from a wildfire suppression-only approach in this area could ever exceed the cost.
JF wrote on Sep 23, 2008 2:01 PM:Do try to stick to one name... we might be able to follow your logic.
Dollars are dollars. It doesn't matter if the city spends them or the insurance company. When the insurance company pays out that kind of loss, you still pay for it.
You're forgetting that those 22 engines will go to more than just one call every five years. The 44 homes was simply an example of the possible results for one call. Imagine if each saved 4 homes. Or ten. On that one call. Then imagine that each one save a dozen lives each year with a more timely response to medical aid calls. Imagine that it's your child in the pool. Get the picture now?
Confused wrote on Sep 23, 2008 2:27 PM:Because something is insured does not "eliminate" the loss. The loss is "covered", but it is still a loss, paid for by someone (and we all know who that someone is). Plus, insurance does not cover the loss of a life, a pet or family heirlooms. It is really not about money.
What about Safety wrote on Sep 23, 2008 6:41 PM:How much are lives worth? To "To JF" its less than 22 million. It is sad that we would let a small increass in property tax have such a negative effect on our fire departments. We spend more on dinner at a restaurant or a ball game than we would be willing to spend on protecting our homes. Shame on you for your greed!!!
Richard wrote on Sep 27, 2008 6:27 PM:Regarding Minnich's insistence on focusing on only one variable (chaparral age), he does not appear to have a clear understanding of wildland fire. Wildland fire risk in southern California is not the fault of the fire service, or the result of old stands of chaparral, it is an inherent part of the landscape. The age of vegetation has very little to do with its ability to carry a fire during Santa Ana wind conditions. Laying more fire on the ground on a landscape level or allowing fires to run as Minnich suggests is unacceptable in southern California for both safety and ecological reasons. The Baja California fire mosaic hypothesis Minnich continually promotes is not applicable to our region. It will only lead to poor utilization of scarce fire management dollars the destruction of native ecosystems. The best and most efficient way to reduce wildland fire risk is through proper community design, fire-safe building construction, adequate vegetation management around structures and strategically placed fuel treatment projects. For additional information on this topic, please see the Fire and Science page on the California Chaparral Institute's web page.
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