Four of Five Fire Bills Are Thrown Out

Four bills inspired by Southern California’s devastating brush fires that would have provided the state with more firefighters and equipment have been vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The bills were based in part on recommendations from the governor’s own blue-ribbon panel formed after last October’s blazes, which burned more than 3,000 homes and killed 24 people. Firefighters later said they had been hampered by a lack of resources and by poor communication as the fires quickly spread.

In explaining the vetoes, which were signed Wednesday and Thursday, Schwarzenegger said the bills would have reduced the flexibility of fire authorities over where to send resources, added unnecessary costs and taken money away from other key efforts such as the fight against terrorism.

He did sign a fifth fire-related bill that requires local governments in fire-prone areas to submit their safety plans to the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection beginning in 2010.

But some fire officials said the governor killed the most important bills, those that would have helped authorities battle brush fires more effectively.

“He missed an opportunity here to really move boldly and forcefully to protect our citizens,” said Carroll Wills of California Professional Firefighters, which represents chiefs and firefighters and their unions.

“We’re obviously disappointed,” said Alameda County Fire Chief William McCammon. “We are very vulnerable in California to significant wildfires. All of these bills [were aimed at helping] us with the mitigation of these fires.”

The bills the governor vetoed were:

* SB 1611, which would have required the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to maintain four-person fire engine crews statewide during the fire season and year-round in Southern California.

The agency, which has jurisdiction over many rural areas not covered by city and county fire departments, now maintains at least a three-person crew on engines year-round.

Supporters maintained that the extra staffing would have helped crews get a quicker handle on fires.

The governor said he rejected the bill because he had directed the agency in May to add resources. That executive order included more firefighters and fire engines for areas throughout Southern California but did not require four firefighters on each engine.

Schwarzenegger said in his veto statement that his order offered more flexibility to firefighters and would “help protect the citizens and natural resources ... in a responsible and cost-effective manner.”

* SB 902, which would have added 150 fire engines to the governor’s Office of Emergency Services fleet for use by the state forestry department and local agencies.

In his veto message, Schwarzenegger said the bill would have earmarked “federal homeland security funds for one specific purpose at the expense of other programs that ensure homeland security efforts.”

He also said he did not believe that those federal funds could be used to buy fire engines.

* AB 1588, which would have allowed the forestry department to buy more firefighting helicopters and equipment with federal funds. The helicopters would have been used by local governments in areas of high fire risk.

Schwarzenegger said that the department already had the authority to use federal funds to seek firefighting helicopters and that the bill would have removed government agencies’ flexibility in deciding how to best deploy aircraft.

* AB 2406, which would have required California fire agencies to report local response time and staffing statistics to the state fire marshal so the state could have been able to compare fire departments. Staffing levels have become an issue in San Diego County, where some believe that there were not enough firefighters to combat two massive brush fires burning at the same time.

The governor said this bill would have imposed “an unnecessary and costly mandate without demonstrating any improvement in fire safety.”

The vetoes puzzled Wills and others, given that the governor’s commission had called for more resources for firefighters. The panel, formed by Schwarzenegger and former Gov. Gray Davis, had representatives from 34 federal, state and local agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense and the California Fire Chiefs Assn.

The panel said in its final report that another destructive fire season would occur unless the state “put the protection of lives and property ahead of competing political agendas.”

In a letter to Schwarzenegger that accompanied the report, retired state Sen. William Campbell, who chaired the panel, said that although the members were “sensitive to the financial plight of California government at all levels,” they had concluded that few of its “fiscal recommendations would have meaningful value in the absence of critical public policy changes that must precede them.”

The vetoed bills did not state how much they would cost to implement.

In his statement, Schwarzenegger said, “It is critically important for us to ensure that California is well-prepared for fighting wild land fires.”

Wills responded: “The kind words [from the governor] are appreciated, but kind words aren’t going to help us through this devastating fire season.”