By Michael Gardner
The San Diego Union-Tribune
SACRAMENTO — There is friction in firehouses growing out of a decision by Cal Fire not to activate hundreds of Southern California volunteers who were eager to reinforce strained state and federal crews battling the recent siege of wildfires in the northern half of the state.
Instead, Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service drew upon a global army of regular firefighters from Arkansas to New York, and from Canada to New Zealand. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also called out the California National Guard to join forces on the fire lines for the first time in three decades.
Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service did employ hundreds of volunteers from Northern California, but only three Southern California volunteers have been called up north since June 20, when lightning ignited more than 2,000 fires. The blazes have claimed more than 1 million acres, mostly in Northern and Central California, according to Cal Fire.
State agency officials defend the staffing decision as sound strategy to guard against an unexpected outbreak in fire-prone Southern California. Volunteers based locally are more familiar with the region’s terrain and unpredictable fire conditions, state officials say.
Many crews that were brought in from out of state had special skills, such as the “hotshot” smoke jumpers from Arizona and special supervisors from Canada.
But some volunteers suspect that Cal Fire is not being fully forthright, questioning whether they were kept at home to avoid confrontations with the union that represents career firefighters.
“There were probably many chomping at the bit to go,” said Angel Sanchez, chairman of the Riverside County Volunteer Firefighters Association and a bank vice president.
Sanchez said he plans to meet with Cal Fire officials to find out why none of his volunteers got the call.
“I want to give them the benefit of the doubt ... Was it an oversight? Or was there a plan in place?” he said. “There’s got to be a reason. What was the reason?”
Others are more blunt.
“It seems as though politics, unfortunately, reared its head,” Riverside volunteer Tom Ketcham said. “The unions call the shots. They say who they want where.”
Ketcham is an 18-year volunteer firefighter, and his resume includes assisting in the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake and Los Angeles riots. During the recent blazes, which drained the pool of firefighting crews in Northern California, Ketcham continued to do his day job as a real estate broker. The anticipated call to head north never came.
Recalling past emergencies, Ketcham said, “There was never any designation that, `No, you guys are volunteers, you can’t go.’ It was always, `Hey, we need help. We don’t care who you send.’ The state just said go.”
Cal Fire officials dismiss suggestions that decisions were made to favor union firefighters for the out-of-town assignments because of the pay and overtime they earn. Volunteers are paid once they are activated. Cal Fire’s only goal, the officials said, was to keep local stations at full strength.
Some volunteers agree with that strategy.
“We are ripe for another perfect storm of fire,” Michael Manchor, chief of the De Luz Volunteer Fire Department near Camp Pendleton, said in an e-mail. “What Cal Fire command is doing is smart.”
Manchor said the 400 volunteers in San Diego County were ready to cover fire stations if there had been a shortage of local crews to staff engines. About half of Cal Fire’s paid force was sent north.
“They are holding us as the home guard,” Manchor said. “Though my personnel are eager to help our friends to the north, I think it makes strategic sense.”
Howard Windsor, a Cal Fire chief based in El Cajon, said there are numerous considerations when deciding whether to tap volunteers.
Among the most critical: immediate need, proximity of volunteer teams to the fire, whether deployment could weaken defenses within the home coverage area and training. Several volunteer firefighters from Tehama County had to be rescued while helping battle a Butte County blaze in June.
Another factor, which is not generally well-known, Windsor said, is that volunteers may not be able to spend weeks away from their jobs to join the front lines. Changing one or two members of a crew in the middle of a lengthy firefight is not good practice, particularly for logistical reasons, Windsor said.
He said he recognizes that there have been union-related issues.
“There’s some extreme perspective on both sides, from the union and the volunteers,” he said.
But, Windsor added, “When it comes down to the disaster scenario, we’re all going to be in the game together. We’re going to need everybody.”
According to statistics provided by the state Office of Emergency Services, Cal Fire responded to 12,000 other emergencies across the state while its forces were deployed to the northern fire lines from June 20 through July 13. As an example of providing backup, Cal Fire called more than a dozen volunteers to help safeguard the Pine Cove community in Riverside County, officials said.
Ketcham said he agrees with parts of Cal Fire’s rationale to hold back crews, but believes that some volunteers could have been spared — particularly as a gesture to repay Northern California communities for dispatching teams to the Southern California firestorms last fall.
That point was echoed by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, a former volunteer firefighter.
“My concern is they didn’t send any volunteers at all,” Jeffries said. “When Southern California was burning, Northern California was generous enough to send a lot of their volunteers down.”
In a way, Cal Fire is in a no-win position because either sending too many crews — or too few — exposes the agency to criticism, Jeffries said.
“But you don’t strip one community (of protection). You ask for a few volunteers from a few communities,” he said.
Jeffries said he will ask Cal Fire for an explanation once the northern firestorms have been contained.
“They were all sitting down here while the state was screaming for more resources,” Jeffries said of the local volunteers. “It just seems appropriate to start asking why.”
Copyright 2008, The San Diego Union-Tribune