Heightened Fire Danger Prompted Hires

Sacramento, CA – Cal Fire has increased its staff due to the drought conditions. One hundred and twenty-five additional firefighters have been hired in Northern California and Cal Fire has extended seasonal firefighting forces in Southern California.

Director of Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott says, “In order to maintain a sufficient depth of resources to address the prolonged, elevated threat of wildfire due to drought, we have staffed 25 additional fire engines and have retained aerial firefighting assets at five air attack bases that would normally be closed this time of year,”

In the Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit, Cal Fire will be assessing the staffing needs continuously. Cal Fire Spokesperson Daniel Berlant says, “At this point we are staffing three engines with permanent firefighters as conditions warrant. We are in the middle of accessing staffing levels for the Sierra.”

In Northern California, CAL FIRE has added two additional fire engines in each of the 12 northern administrative units, added a third engine at the Shasta-Trinity Unit and re-opened the Chico Air Attack Base with two fixed wing aircraft.

Here is Cal Fire’s list of additional firefighters assigned:

Amador-El Dorado Unit: 10
Butte Unit: 12
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit: 12
Humboldt Unit: 10
Lassen-Modoc: 10
Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit: 5
Mendocino Unit: 10
Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit: 12
Santa Clara Unit: 12
Shasta-Trinity Unit: 10
Siskiyou Unit: 10
Tehama-Glenn Unit: 12