Report: San Diego failing at fire safety

By William M. Welch
USA Today

Photo Anthony Ericson/Red-devilphotos.com
Firefighters at the Witch Creek fire in San Diego County last October.
SAN DIEGO — The city and county of San Diego, still recovering from deadly wildfires in 2007, have failed to provide adequate fire protection and remain vulnerable to massive damage in the future, according to a report being released today.

San Diego, the area of California hardest hit by the October firestorms, relies heavily on firefighters and equipment loaned from other parts of the state. The system proved to be ineffective in the critical first few days after the fires broke out, the study concludes.

"We want the public to know ... this region is completely unprepared for this kind of event," said former San Diego city fire chief Jeff Bowman, who led the study.

The report was issued by a group of 15 current and former fire professionals. Bowman, who now serves on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Blue Ribbon Fire Commission and Task Force, helped form the group. The study by the San Diego Regional Fire Safety Forum is one of several being conducted as a result of the destructive 2007 fires in San Diego.

The report says San Diego needs to buy 50 more fire engines, hire hundreds more firefighters and have more retardant-dropping helicopters to attack wildfires in the crucial first 48 hours, before they grow. Most important, the report says, a countywide fire department needs to be established to put San Diego on par with the rest of wildfire-vulnerable Southern California.

"There is a general awareness in San Diego that more needs to be done," said Bill Harris, spokesman for San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders.

San Diego County, with a population of 3 million and 4,200 square miles of land, has no countywide department. It relies on the city and several regional departments. The report says the lack of a central command "resulted in an uncoordinated effort" against the fires.

The county spends $8 million a year on fire equipment, the report says. Los Angeles County, with a population of 10 million in a slightly smaller land area, spends $860 million a year on its county fire department, Bowman said. Orange County, with a population similar to San Diego County but less than one-quarter the land area, spends $260 million a year.

"Either existing tax revenues need to be reallocated, or a new revenue stream needs to be created" for fire safety, the report says.

The report asserts that firefighting officials across California are frustrated by the lack of resources San Diego puts into fire safety. "I have heard from several fire chiefs in the state how frustrating it is that this county refuses to help itself, and then when it burns it screams at everybody else to come help," Bowman said.

In San Diego County, the 2007 fires claimed 10 lives, destroyed more than 1,700 homes, burned more than 300 square miles and forced the evacuation of an estimated 500,000 people.

One of the other groups to issue a report by summer is headed by San Diego's mayor. Harris, the mayor's spokesman, said Monday the mayor is awaiting an "after-action report" by city staff assessing the response to the October fires. Sanders is working with the county Board of Supervisors and regional fire officials on funding possibilities. Sanders recently announced plans to buy a second city fire copter.

County Supervisor Ron Roberts joined Sanders in speeches last month on the fires and said the county needs more fire equipment. Maurice Luque, spokesman for city Fire Chief Tracy Jarman, said the department was frustrated at the lack of help from the state in the first days of the October fires. "Does more need to be done? Most definitely," Luque said.