Commentary: Time to Reconsider Wildfire Seasons
For the second time in a year, an off-season wildfire swept across San Diego County homes while the state’s firefighting aerial tankers sat dormant on some distant runway.
The recent Fallbrook fire, which scorched more than 5,000 acres and burned dozens of luxury homes, in many ways was a repeat of the January 2001 Viejas fire that burned more than 10,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes.
Both fires occurred during the winter, long after the traditional end of the state’s wildfire season on Nov. 30. In both cases, the two state-operated aerial tankers based in Ramona during the fire season had been moved to a maintenance field near Sacramento.
According to California Department of Forestry officials, the state budget does not provide funds for the year-round use of the CDF’s fleet of 20 fixed-wing aerial tankers. Such funds are available only to provide fire coverage from June to the end of November.
Admittedly, state officials would run the risk of coming under fire for apparently wasting tax money on fire equipment that, under normal circumstances, would not be needed during the rainy winter months.
This, however, has not been a normal rainy season. In fact, it is San Diego County’s third straight dry winter. So dry, in fact, the CDF has ordered its local fire units on round-the-clock alert during windy periods.
In light of this, wouldn’t it make sense to have the state’s aerial tankers positioned and on alert as well? In wildfires, minutes can be crucial. In the amount of time it takes to fly a tanker from Sacramento to the fire zone, a wildfire can sweep across homes and businesses, as happened in January of last year and again just this month.
The CDF is not to blame for this oversight; the forestry department must make do with what it has. State lawmakers hold the purse strings and they must be made aware that the threat from wildfire is no longer a seasonal threat. The more our communities encroach on the wilderness, the more at risk we are to wildfires , particularly during dry periods.
Locally, we can help ourselves by giving our local firefighters some locally based aerial assistance. Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties each have firefighting helicopters; San Diego County does not.
A program launched by San Diego firefighters in 2000 is looking to fund such a helicopter with corporate donations and county help. Local government and business leaders should move quickly on this project. This is not a subject on which we can afford to be pennywise and pound foolish.
, Martin Hill
