By Greg Welter
The Chico Enterprise-Record
OROVILLE, Calif. — Cal Fire-Butte County provides primary medical, rescue and fire protection services to about half of Butte County’s residents.
A Butte County representative for a statewide firefighters union said that’s one of the points the organization is trying to make in full-page, full-color ads running recently in this newspaper.
“We want the local community to get to know who we are and what we do,” said firefighter Jeff Burrow.
Despite a history going back more than 100 years, Burrow said a lot of people still wonder what Cal Fire is, and why it often shows up to handle structure fires in urban areas and emergencies on the highway.
“For a lot of people, we’re their local fire department,” Burrow explained.
The agency formerly known as CDF, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is primary responder for fires, rescues and other emergencies in what is called the “state responsibility area,” which includes territory mostly outside the city limits of Chico and Oroville, and the town limits of Paradise.
Now, with a Chico Area Fire Rescue Agreement in place, Cal Fire-Butte County engines are even more likely to show up at fires and emergencies within the Chico city limits. In Gridley, Cal Fire-Butte County also functions as the city fire department.
The ads run so far feature pictures of the three engine companies from stations closest to Chico, 41, 42 and 44. Burrow said future ads will include pictures of engine companies that cover communities like Forest Ranch, Magalia and Bangor.
After doing some research, Burrows concluded that a lot of people don’t really know what Cal Fire does. “I think this is something we needed to do,” Burrows said, referring to the informational ads.
Butte County Fire Chief Henri Brachais said he isn’t sure why the union is running the ads. He said Cal Fire is protecting itself against threatened reductions in staffing by going to a rotating schedule of fire station brownouts, and he isn’t aware of any particular political agenda the union is trying to promote.
Brachais said there is a blurring of the line between Cal Fire and the Butte County Fire Department. He said the recent name change from CDF to Cal Fire has been heavily promoted and may have overpowered the identity of the county agencies.
He noted that while Cal Fire-Butte County firefighters are considered state employees, most of the engines and other equipment they rely on is owned by the local agency. Type 3 engines, used mostly for wildland fires, are owned by the state.
Burrow said money from Firefighters Local 2881 political action committee is being used to pay for the ads, which may continue for several more weeks.
When they run out, Burrow said the union will back up its public relations effort with direct mailings to the residents in its primary response areas.
One point the union makes in the ads addresses Cal Fire’s efficiency, especially important in view of the current budget crisis. “Cal Fire is good government, providing cost-effective, full-service emergency response that works under a local cooperative agreement to set the level of funding to meet local needs,” the advertisement reads.
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