California’s Multi-Billion Dollar Battle Against Wildfire Highlighted During Town Hall

The River Fire consumes a home off of Scott’s Valley Road near the town of Lakeport in Lake County California in 2018. [Photo by Mark McKenna]

California could be facing another challenging wildfire season but during a livestreamed town hall event, Senator Mike McGuire highlighted what he described as the state’s “historic investments” in fighting and preventing fires.

Wildfire conditions – and the increased resources available to meet them – were discussed during the April 15 town hall meeting.

McGuire said “unfortunately our region has been devastated by wildfire over the past decade” but the state is “laser-focused on making historic investments to be able to better protect our communities big and small.”

That includes funding for more Cal Fire firefighters and the training and equipment needed to combat fires, as well as preventative measures.

“California, over the past many years, has invested nearly $4 billion in vegetation management and wildfire prevention efforts, dead and dying tree removal, clearing back brush and trees from evacuation routes around communities, and more fire breaks,” McGuire said.

Another $4 billion is “on the way,” he continued, “thanks to California voters passing Proposition 4.”

The additional funding is “embedded” in the bond measure and will be spent “in the coming years for wildfire prevention in our communities,” said McGuire.

State Senator Mike McGuire talks about firefighting efforts during the town hall

North Coast investments include what McGuire described as “10 new quick attack type fire engines” for southern Humboldt and northern Mendocino counties, and a new fire academy serving Mendocino and Lake counties.

But McGuire raised a “red flag,” saying funding for the U.S. Forest Service – which holds the majority of the state’s forestland – could be cut by up to 60 percent if the Trump administration’s proposed budget is approved.

And that will come on top of the recent loss of 7,000 US Forest Service employees that McGuire said have “either left, taken early retirements, or been fired.”

But state-level improvements were reemphasized by McGuire later in the town hall, in an exchange with Cal Fire Northern Region Chief George Morris.

“In your tenure in Cal Fire, this has been the biggest change, the biggest enhancement, and the most major improvements that we’ve seen in generations for Cal Fire,” said McGuire, who asked for Morris’s take.

Cal Fire Northern Region Chief George Morris

“I’ve been a fire chief in Cal Fire for the last 12 years, running a unit and running regions, and I don’t recognize my own department, that’s how much it’s changed in that time period,” Morris said.

In 2015, Cal Fire had 6,500 firefighters, he continued, and the number is now up to 12,000.

“I think we’ve made quantum leaps in this decade with the support of the administration and the legislature,” he said. “It can feel slow and it can feel daunting but the investments are making a difference.”

As for what lies ahead this summer and fall, what’s described as a “Super El Niño” weather pattern could develop. Morris suggested it’s a wild card in the upcoming season, saying, “weather patterns are going to be difficult to predict under an El Niño condition.”

He said the last strong El Niño was in 2015 and 2016, when a number of “severe fires” happened.

“And that really ushered in the era of the mega fire with those fires,” Morris continued. “The El Niño can mean a lot of things – it can mean that we’re going to see more moisture than normal, it can mean heat domes followed by tropical moisture. It can also mean extended dry periods over a swath of California.”

Given the variability, Morris advised against banking on long range forecasts. Short range forecasts of hot and dry conditions should be heeded, he continued, using information from Cal Fire and other agencies as a basis for decision-making on actions like preparing to evacuate.

If conditions run hot and dry, wildfires will have plenty of fuel.

“We’re seeing an incredible amount of growth in our grasslands,” said Morris. “This late rain means that we’ll get secondary and tertiary growth in the grasslands – I think that can be the fuse for a bomb that could be a very difficult fire season.”

McGuire said El Niño and other conditions “could spell trouble” but he reiterated the state’s readiness.

It will continued to be bolstered. McGuire said about 2,000 more firefighters will be hired in the next four years.

Morris reflected on “some of the scars that we’ve had,” saying his hometown is the town of Paradise, which was largely destroyed by the 2018 Camp Fire.

“Many of my friends and my family lost everything and I lost a home in that fire.” he said. “The level of preparation is what is key to peoples’ survival in these events.”