Preventing Another Catastrophe May Take Billions, Panel Is Told

The day after the release of a scathing report on the city of San Diego’s response to the October wildfires, state fire officials warned members of a governor’s blue-ribbon fire review panel that averting future catastrophes may cost billions of dollars in personnel, firefighting equipment and communications systems.

“California is undergoing a climatic change,” said Jim Wright, deputy director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “We have to recognize that. We’re trying to operate a fire management system year-round on an eight-month checkbook.”

Thirty members of the panel gathered in San Bernardino to hear from the forestry department, the state Office of Emergency Services, the California Military Department and the federal Forest Service about how the state can improve its response to major fires.

The October wildfires, which raged through six counties and consumed nearly 275,000 acres, killed more than 20 people and destroyed about 3,650 homes and structures.

Wright recommended more state firefighters be assigned to each engine and asked that local and state agencies acquire equipment that allows them to better communicate during emergencies.

He also told the commission that the state needs to replace its existing aerial firefighting fleet, which includes several Huey helicopters that flew tours in Vietnam.

Some commission members expressed other concerns about the way major fires are handled in California, particularly the obstacles faced when asking the military for assistance.

State and federal regulations prevent fire commanders from calling on the military until all civilian and private-contract firefighting resources have been exhausted -- even if military firefighting equipment is closer and more readily available.

In San Diego, where local fire crews were deployed to fires in Orange and San Bernardino counties when the deadly Cedar fire erupted early on Oct. 25, the Navy and Marine Corps were prohibited from immediately sending their fire helicopters.

San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy said he is hopeful progress will be made on the issue, which is particularly vital in San Diego, where a history of limited municipal funding for fire protection has left the city particularly exposed to threats.

Murphy said he would also like the commission to devise a way that local firefighters, if pressed into service as part of mutual-aid pacts in other jurisdictions, can return quickly to their home regions if needed.

“I’m not predicting that [a change in mutual-aid policies] will happen,” Murphy said. “The fire professionals like the mutual-aid system. I think what would be more important to us in San Diego would be a way to use federal resources, particularly military resources, better.”

Meanwhile in San Diego, officials promised changes in the wake of reports issued Wednesday that concluded that the city Fire Department’s ability to fight the Cedar fire, which destroyed 335 homes in San Diego, was undercut by its chronic problems caused by tight budgets.

The reports, done by the city manager, police chief, assistant fire chief and director of homeland security, found that firefighting was hampered by inadequate manpower, training, equipment, vehicles and coordination.

The problems ran the gamut from outdated maps to a paucity of radios, battery chargers and safety gear.

County Supervisor Ron Roberts, moments after filing papers at City Hall to run for mayor, challenged Murphy and other mayoral candidates to a debate on what he called the woeful state of fire and police protection in San Diego.

Roberts said he disagrees with a recent assessment by the city manager that the city is too financially strapped to afford better fire protection and should prepare for the possibility of layoffs.

“You can’ t have police driving in cars that are falling apart, and firefighters going to fires with inadequate equipment,” Roberts said.

One shortcoming mentioned in the “after-action” reports was that fire officials had no system to track where firefighters and equipment had been deployed. Roberts said he has already spoken to local defense contractors about technology used by the military to track forces on the battlefield.

“We want to be the first high-tech fire department in the country,” Roberts said.

But Councilman Michael Zucchet, who served as intergovernmental relations director for the firefighters union before being elected to the council two years ago, was doubtful that the city will change its approach to funding fire protection.

“These reports were not a surprise,” Zucchet said. “For four years [before being elected] I spent the majority of my time trying to convince the council that the San Diego Fire Department is woefully underfunded, poorly equipped, and understaffed.”