California reviews wildfire SOPs

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SAN DIEGO (AP) - Using a wildfire warning system similar to the
U.S. Homeland Security Department's color-coded terror alerts and
making firefighting aircraft available around the clock were among
dozens of recommendations issued Friday by firefighters from
western states.
Participants at a conference sponsored by the California Fire
Chiefs Association and the Western Fire Chiefs Association noted
that many of the proposals were not new and will amount to nothing
unless city planners, insurance companies and homeowners start
paying attention.
During the closing session, a speaker asked how many in the
audience of about 300 people weren't firefighters, and no one
raised their hand.
"The builders need to come, the planners need to come, the
community needs to come, the fire service needs to come, and be led
by the president of the United States," said Jeff Bowman, fire
chief for the city of San Diego. Bowman said President Bush
declined his invitation to the conference.
Recommendations included:
-Making aircraft available 24 hours a day to fight wildfires.
-Creating incentives for businesses to dispose of
beetle-infested trees, which pose a major hazard.
-Inviting builders, urban planners and environmentalists to ride
along with firefighters during major blazes.
-Making federal disaster relief aid contingent on how well
homeowners protected their homes.
"The biggest thing that came out of this is that what we need
to do is get the planners involved, get the insurance industry
involved, get the building people, get the environmental people,"
said Erwin Willis, fire chief of Rancho Santa Fe, a north San Diego
suburb. "This isn't a problem the fire service can solve. It's
impossible."
William Bamattre, the Los Angeles fire chief, said the recent
fires underscored the need for uniform construction standard. That
way, when firefighters are called in from out of town to battle a
major fire, they will know what to expect.
"This is a statewide problem," he said. "When you have
someone from Northern California come to the San Diego area, they
don't have the same building codes, the same protections (and) it
makes it that much more difficult to address the problem."
The three-day brainstorming session was the latest attempt to
draw lessons from Southern California's fires, which claimed 24
lives, destroyed thousands of homes and other structures and
charred more than 750,000 acres. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Blue
Ribbon Fire Commission held its fourth meeting at the same Mission
Bay resort on Wednesday.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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SAN DIEGO (AP) - The San Diego region needs three firefighting
helicopters, according to a study released Wednesday that shows it
lags behind other Southern California counties in aerial power.
The city of San Diego commissioned the study by Conklin & de
Decker Associates of Arlington, Texas, after October's firestorms.
San Diego County was the site of the deadliest blaze - the Cedar
fire - which caused 15 of the 24 deaths in six Southern California
counties and destroyed 2,200 of 3,650 homes.
The study recommends the choppers be able to drop about 400
gallons of water. That type of aircraft would cost about $6.5
million apiece, or $3.5 million used, and $200,000 each to operate
for a year.
The fleet would allow the region to have aerial firefighting
power around the clock, seven days a week, the study said. Building
a larger fleet would be too difficult to manage, at least
initially.
Mayor Dick Murphy said he would appeal to the county government
and other cities to share costs.
The region's lack of aircraft has emerged as a top concern after
last year's blazes exposed a dearth of resources. The San Diego
Police Department and San Diego County Sheriff's Department have
several helicopters but they are used primarily for law
enforcement.
The Navy, Coast Guard and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station have
military helicopters but no agreements with local governments to
use them in fire emergencies. The state of California and the
military are working to find a way to use those aircraft in the
next major blaze.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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SAN DIEGO (AP) - Poor communication and conflicting state and
federal policies hampered firefighting efforts, delayed accurate
evacuation information and grounded aircraft that could have been
used to fight San Diego County's deadly wildfires, according to a
new report.
The report, released Wednesday by the Cleveland National Forest
and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection,
recommends improved safety training, acquiring new equipment, and
better countywide planning and interagency coordination. The
58-page study will be sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Blue
Ribbon Fire Commission, as well as to public safety agencies and
elected officials.
The 2003 San Diego County Fire Siege Fire Safety Review focused
on the three major fires that started in the county in late
October, killing 16 people, destroying 3,241 structures and racking
up more than $43 million in suppression costs. The Cedar Fire
alone, at 273,246 acres, was the largest wildfire in state history.
"We'll always have wind-driven fires. We've never been able to
stop them," said Rich Hawkins, fire chief for the Cleveland
National Forest. "But there's two things we could work on."
"A lot more thought should be given to evacuation systems and
planning in general," Hawkins said, "and far more attention given
to community protection, including the homeowners' responsibility
to properly manage the vegetation around their homes."
"So the next time we have a large wind-driven fire, we'll be
better prepared."
In the early hours of the Cedar Fire, fire and law enforcement
personnel underestimated its potential size and rate of spread, the
report said. Several communities, including the Muth Valley area
northeast of downtown San Diego, where several people were killed,
had no warning of the approaching fire.
Fragmentation of firefighting teams, the use of incompatible
radio systems, and the involvement of agencies from multiple
jurisdictions all hampered the ability to communicate and share
information about the fire's progress. Officers also were uncertain
about which areas had been evacuated or which needed to be
evacuated or closed.
"Rural residents who had experienced fires in the past took the
initiative to evacuate the area, and took time to notify and assist
their neighbors in evacuating," the report said. "Others
sheltered in place, and successfully defended their homes, often at
great personal risk."
Confusion about whether to allow flights at dusk kept
helicopters from being used shortly after the Cedar Fire was
reported Oct. 25 in the Cleveland National Forest. State and
federal policies differ over what type of aircraft can fly as
sunset approaches. The issue caused an outcry among local
politicians and many residents.
The report also notes that a "no divert" policy kept other
aircraft grounded that could have been used to fight the Cedar Fire
and makes recommendations about using the military's water-dropping
helicopters in the future.
Fuel management, planning, building and zoning codes and public
education are crucial to mitigating the effects of future fire
emergencies, the report said.
In the Cedar Fire burn area, "over half the homes and
associated outbuildings had less than the required 30 feet of
vegetation clearance around their perimeters," the report said.
The study noted that many of its findings were similar to a 1972
task force report ordered after a 13-day fire siege in Southern
California, which called for improved codes and planning, fuels
management, coordination and public education.
The 1972 report, however, did not address the importance of
cooperation between residents whose property borders the wildland,
and local, state and federal governments to identify wildfire
protection solutions, an issue now considered a critical part of
overall wildfire strategy, according to the report.
"We are doing some things better. ... But there's still
improvement needed. We haven't implemented everything out of the
1970s report," said Chuck Maner, chief of the San Diego Unit of
the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Hawkins said there's a "narrow window of opportunity" after
such disasters where changes need to be implemented "before the
public starts to forget.
---
Associated Press writer Theresa Bowen contributed to this
report.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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State panel endorses wildfire risk rating system
By RYAN PEARSON
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - California should develop a new system to
rate wildfire risks that would guide how officials manage at-risk
lands and respond to blazes, according to recommendations endorsed
Thursday by a blue ribbon state panel.
The panel, formed in response to last fall's deadly Southern
California firestorms, approved about 50 recommendations - many
costly - to be included in a final report it will present April 5
to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
They include efforts to increase cooperation and communication
between fire agencies; calls for increased training and a number of
requests for new equipment, ranging from fire engines to handheld
radios.
The panel also called for speedier deployment of military
aircraft; a review by fire agencies of their cut-off time for
sending helicopters and planes out to battle a blaze and a new
legislative committee dedicated to fire response policy.
The governor's Blue Ribbon Fire Commission made no cost
estimates and members did not collectively endorse any specific
funding source for their proposals.
State Sen. Dede Alpert, D-San Diego, noted the difficulty of
funneling dollars to wildfire prevention and suppression during a
time of predicted statewide budget cuts.
"If you really did everything on our wish list, it would be in
the billion-dollar range," said Alpert, chairwoman of the Senate's
appropriations committee.
A proposal to standardize fire codes in at-risk communities
statewide likely will be included in the final report, several
panel members said after the hearing at a Los Angeles hotel. A
specific recommendation to do so, however, was stripped Thursday
from the draft report.
Local authorities typically determine fire safety rules, ranging
from which building materials are permitted to how much clearing
space is required around a house.
A key new effort in the panel's plan would develop a
comprehensive assessment of risks to communities and wildlife, then
rate the wildfire risk for specific areas. The analysis and rating
would be used by various agencies to make decisions such as whether
to clear brush or other wildfire fuel.
Jerry Williams, director of fire and aviation management for the
U.S. Forest Service, said the statewide assessment would be
integrated into local, state and federal land use and management
plans. It would be the first of its kind in the nation, he said.
The panel, which met seven times across the region since
November, was formed in response to fall firestorms that claimed 24
lives, destroyed more than 3,000 homes and charred more than
750,000 acres.
It is the latest effort to analyze agencies' response to major
wildfires. Previous reports on decades-old fires included many
similar recommendations, the commission noted.
Retired state Sen. William Campbell, the panel's chairman, said
he hoped to spur action by reconvening the commission in six months
or one year.
"We do not want this sitting on the shelf," he said. "If we
keep coming back and poking at it, we will keep the dust off."

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)