Report: San Diego 'Woefully Unprepared' For Future Fires
SAN DIEGO --
The San Diego County grand jury released a new report Thursday that calls for immediate, sustainable funding to ensure preparedness for the city's high risk for wildfires.
The report, titled "The Fire: Next Time, Will We Be Ready?" details how the city has suffered through two devastating wildfires in the past five years, "necessitating a response far beyond the capabilities of local agencies in terms of fire fighting resources, mass evacuations, care and sheltering."
The report says that because of the high risk of fires in the region it is "only a matter of time" before another destructive firestorm will occur. But it scolds officials for remaining "woefully unprepared" to the wake-up calls and urges them to put politics aside.
The grand jury calls for fire safety and public safety to receive budgetary priority -- despite the cost and the possibility of raising taxes.
"If these needs are in fact not receiving the requisite funding necessary to ensure public safety, it is part of our elected leaders' job to find the means to establish continued funding," the report states.
Among the recommendations is the proposal of a ballot measure proposing a 2.5 percent increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax to be used solely for the purpose of improving fire protection levels. The report also calls on the County Board of Supervisors to allocate of portion of Proposition 172 funds for firefighting purposes.
The report describes firefighting resources as "fractured" in unincorporated areas of the county, with dispatching that is not consolidated, and certain fire protection districts, which are not manned around the clock. Among their recommendations is the creation of a San Diego County fire commander.
The San Diego City Fire Department is also named in the report as not meeting national standards. The report says 12 of the city's 45 engine districts don't have adequate resources because they exceed the standard nine square mile service area.
The grand jury also calls for an organized plan for the establishment and operation of a mega-shelter and urges the San Diego/Imperial Counties Chapter of the American Red Cross to conduct a type of audit to ensure its ability to staff and equip emergency shelters within the first 48 hours of a major disaster. That includes enough bilingual or multi-lingual staff members at shelters.
According to the grand jury, a variety of recommendations made following the 2003 Cedar Fire have not been fully implemented or remain unchanged due to inadequate funding.
The report says that research shows the region's fire season has grown two months longer and destroys 6.5 times more land than in the 1970s.
It also cites a local academic who refers to San Diego in the report as "serial non-learners when it comes to fire preparation."
The grand jury recognized and commended all firefighters -- including volunteers -- who assisted in the October firestorm. They also thanked the thousands of people who volunteered their time to staff emergency shelters and assist in disaster aid operations.
Elected leaders must respond to the report within 90 days.
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