The Times-Standard
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a piece of legislation last week designed to help rural firefighters do their jobs.
The bill, authored by assemblymen Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata, and Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, addresses a problem that has reportedly grounded many firefighters in rural areas by cutting red tape at the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
"(Assembly Bill 1648) removes a bureaucratic barrier at DMV that made it very difficult for rural fire departments to license their firefighters to drive heavy equipment,” Chesbro said in a press release. “You had situations where firefighters could not respond to fires because they were not licensed to drive fire engines. Rural fire departments had to send two firefighters sometimes hundreds of miles on a round trip to a DMV office and take a vital piece of equipment out of service for an entire day just to license one firefighter.
“This situation was unacceptable and I heard about it from many chiefs of rural fire departments all over the 1st Assembly District. I’m grateful Assemblymember Jeffries joined me to craft this legislation, which the governor has now approved,” Chesbro continued in the release.
A.B. 1648 allows firefighters who already possess a Class C license to earn a “Firefighter Endorsement” that authorizes them to drive fire equipment after completing 30 hours of classroom and behind-the-wheel training under supervision of a qualified fire chief.
“To complete the process, firefighters will still have to submit to the DMV their health questionnaires and written documentation from the fire chiefs who trained them and pass a written test,” Chesbro said. “But it eliminates the requirement of having an already licensed firefighter also travel to a distant DMV office. It put too many rural communities at risk to have personnel and equipment taken out of service for an entire day, especially during fire season.”
The bill passed both houses of the Legislature with unanimous votes before being signed by the governor. The new law will go into effect Jan. 1.
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