New state legislation would make seasonal CAL FIRE firefighters full time

On Thursday in Southern California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new package of bills to address the need for year-round resources to fight fires in the state.

One of those introduced by Bay Area State Senator Dave Cortese would give every corner of the state better protections when it comes to fire and emergency responses.

The January Southern California firestorm highlighted a chilling truth, and the dates of other CAL FIRE wildfire declarations hammer it home.

There is truly no longer a wildfire season here in California.

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"In Southern California, it is year-round now, when you look at their graphs and longterm data," said SJSU Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center Asst. Professor Kate Wilkin. "In Northern California, it's getting longer and longer. It's not quite year-round yet, but maybe if we have some extended, extreme drought, it could become even longer."

Cortese says as the fire season lengthens, the help needs to expand as well.

The "Fight for Firefighters Act" co-authored by Cortese would address that.

"Seasonal firefighters that are home watching the Super Bowl this weekend will suddenly have a job again," Cortese said.

One California: SoCal Fire Relief

The proposal would allocate $175 million annually to make more than 3,000 seasonal CAL FIRE firefighters full time.

"There's nothing worse than having a fire break out in a place 25 miles from a valley floor, from an urban area, and be right in the middle of CAL FIRE's jurisdiction, only to have no personnel in that station," Cortese said.

Vegetation management crews would also go full-time. Wilkin says this could allow for more prescribed burns to prevent fires from growing, or even starting.

"By restoring prescribed fires in the landscapes, it could be vital to our future--in terms of resilience--to climate change and fires," Wilkin said.

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CAL FIRE 2881 President Tim Edwards said seasonal firefighters can only watch fires burn in the three months they're off.

At a press conference on Tuesday with California Senate Democrats, Edwards said they can now make a difference.

"In the months that our seasonals are laid off, we've burnt more than 500-something-thousand acres," Edwards said. "We have burnt down 38,000 homes and lost 118 lives. California, it's time to do what's right. It's time to staff CAL FIRE appropriately."

It is a 365-day approach to combating a year-round issue in the Golden State.