Brown Proposes Cuts To Cal Fire
Sacramento, CA– Governor Jerry Brown is proposing significant cutbacks to state firefighting crews in his budget.
The Brown administration looked at the 7-year-old policy of assigning four state firefighters to every engine versus having only three people. They found a similar success rate in controlling a fire before it burned more than 10 acres.
Brown’s plan calls for reducing the number of firefighters on Cal Fire engine crews from four to three and also shifting some firefighting responsibility to cities and counties that Cal Fire now oversees. That would save $34 million a year and eliminate 800 seasonal firefighting positions in the state.
“These are some tough times that we’re living in and across state government,” said Cal Fire Spokesman Daniel Berlant. “But we will work with the three person crews and continue to respond to our emergencies. We are confident that our men and women of Cal Fire are going to rise to the challenge like we’ve always done.”
Written by tina.falco@mlode.com
