SACRAMENTO— Led by Senate President Toni Atkins, the Senate’s Wildfire Working Group released the blueprint for a fire safe California, driving record investment in wildfire prevention and response along with the introduction of 11 landmark bills that will help keep communities fire safe.
“We must deploy multiple strategies to combat this evolving crisis not just in California, but the entire western United States,” said Senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) during a zoom forum Thursday, adding that he was grateful to work with colleagues on what he called a “critical budget and policy package.”
According to McGuire, over $1.5 billion will be allocated for fire prevention and response efforts this year. Co-chairs in the Senate’s Wildfire Working Group, Susan Rubio, Henry Stern, Ben Allen, Monique Limón, Bill Dodd and Nancy Skinner, unveiled a comprehensive wildfire preparedness and prevention bill package and discussed what law makers called a landmark corresponding budget package – all part of the Senate’s Blueprint for a Fire Safe California.
“From that $1.5 billion, $536 million is already moving, getting into the hands of locals, cities and counties, fire districts and fire departments, to be able to move on prevention efforts,” said McGuire.
The senator added that California saw 4% of its land mass burn, over 4 million acres, and the smoke generated from the fires contained the equivalent of 28 million vehicles exhaust for a year.
“We have seen some of the most devastating impacts related to wildfire compared to any other region in the United States of America, which is why we want to be able to come together and talk about how we can become prepared for this upcoming wildfire season. Wildfires are becoming larger, more destructive and more intense,” he said.
“While California’s climate has always been variable, the last couple of decades have been some of the hottest on record. These rising temperatures are making a bad situation even worse. Since the 1970s, Western State wildfire season has gone from 170 days per year to 222. The largest wildland fires in California history have all taken place since 2017”, said McGuire during the digital Town Hall event “Thousands of acres of vegetation will be cleared, millions of dead and dying trees will be removed and dozens of fire breaks, in every corner of the North Coast, in every corner of the state of California, will be constructed.”
According to the Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Institute at Stanford University, Michael Wara, who took part in the live streamed panel, there are two factors that must be taken into consideration to explain what it is being observed – one is accumulation of fuel. “The exclusion of fire of the natural fire regime from forests and wild lands in California led to a buildup of more fuel. That, combining with a warming climate that we’re starting to observe, is a really regular feature of life in California. It’s just not raining in the fall the way it used to.” Wara stated that makes the fire conditions much more extreme and much more dangerous for the first responders that have to try to keep people out of harm’s way and then ultimately contain the fire.
CalFire Sonoma Lake Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones, agreed: “We’re seeing a lot of reburn of the same areas. We are in extreme drought conditions.”
Officials spoke of the resources added this season to the ongoing effort. “We’re transitioning to a new helicopter, and we’re acquiring seven large air tankers to add to our existing fleet. We’re also adding fire crews to our portfolio of personnel and resources,” said Cal Fire Humboldt Del Norte Unit Chief Kurt McCray.
“There is a great deal of investment going towards forest health fire prevention and fuel reduction efforts,” said McCray, who also participated in the event. “There are agreements specifically between Cal Fire and our federal partners that allow for the exchange of resources to help each other out. That collaborative effort is essential.”
