Just How Serious Is This Problem? : Wilson should form commission on wildfires

Despite the heroic efforts of firefighters who battled the recent blazes, the question remains: What can state and local authorities do to better prepare for the annual fire season? Hindsight should give us insight for the future.

Gov. Pete Wilson should convene a commission to investigate the fires and recommend any needed improvements in fire prevention and suppression. This task force of a dozen or so members should include county fire chiefs and sheriffs, federal and state forestry officials, the state Office of Emergency Preparedness and the state insurance commissioner. The panel should:

1. Review the recommendations of previous commissions. After the horrific 1970 fire in Malibu Canyon, the Los Angeles City-County Fire Board of Inquiry was convened to examine local fire preparedness and preventive measures. Its recommendations still stand. Wilson convened a similar state inquiry shortly after the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, at the request of the City of Oakland. Its findings may be applicable here too.

2. Build on the findings of previous panels to develop an action plan that will move California and its communities to state-of-the-art fire preparedness.

3. Develop a strategy for implementation and funding. A critical mandate for a new commission is to stay active long enough to ensure its recommendations are implemented, not filed away.

4. Focus on new lessons from the latest fires. Much has been learned from past fires, but some new trends may be forming:

--The most worrisome is that arsonists may have started as many as 19 of the 26 recent blazes. Wilson already has called a meeting of a special arson task force. Stiffer state penalties and increased fire watch patrols surely are in order.

--The California Air National Guard was grounded for 24 hours before taking off to help douse the recent fires because of an arcane, time-wasting 1932 U.S. law requiring state officials to query all available privately owned commercial air tankers before calling up military C-130 firefighting craft. Clearly this 61-year-old law must be modified.

--Do environmental concerns inadvertently undermine fire safety? In Laguna Beach fire-preventing control burns have been limited for three years because the best time to start these fires coincides with when the gnatcatcher, an endangered bird, is laying its eggs. Can such conflicts be avoided in the future?

Wildfires are as much a part of life in California as earthquakes, but that doesn’t mean nothing can be learned from each one that occurs. There should be plenty of work for a special state fire commission to do in planning for the next dry, windy fire season.