By Jason Pesick
The San Bernardino County Sun (California)
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WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein is concerned the U.S. Forest Service has too many firefighter vacancies heading into the fire season.
A letter to Feinstein from Mark Rey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary who oversees the Forest Service, shows that there are 363 vacancies in Southern California out of 4,432 positions.
San Bernardino County Sun (California)Feinstein, D-Calif., said she is concerned that many of the vacancies are among midlevel firefighters.
“These are key fire leadership positions. Without them, some fire engines might sit idle just when they’re needed most. This is unacceptable. We simply cannot afford anything less than a fully staffed firefighting corps in California,” she said in a statement.
Casey Judd, business manager for the Federal Wildland Fire Service Association, said that Rey, in his letter, backed off from an April 1 commitment to Feinstein that all positions would be staffed in time for the start of the state’s fire season.
“I want to reiterate that we feel... we have the resources to meet our firefighting mission this year,” said Jason Kirchner, a spokesman for the Forest Service’s California region.
“Our intention is to fill every single position that we can. But what’s more important ... is understanding that we staff our positions to ensure that we can fulfill our mission,” he said.
“There’s always a certain amount of positions that will go unfilled.”
Judd and Robert Ethridge, president of the local chapter of the National Federation of Federal Employees for the San Bernardino and Angeles national forests, questioned the accuracy of Rey’s vacancy numbers.
“What it appears that he has done is lower the staffing numbers to make that vacancy number look lower,” Ethridge said.
According to the letter, the Angeles National Forest has a total of 28 vacancies. Judd said he’s aware of 31 vacancies in just one of the forest’s three districts. According to the letter, the San Bernardino National Forest has 22 vacancies.
In April, officials in the San Bernardino National Forest said 19 to 21 engines will operate on a typical day, below the capacity of 25.
The loss of midlevel firefighting officials means shortages in key positions needed to staff engines, Ethridge said.
“I think that there is the potential out there right now of having some safety issues based on the staffing levels we have,” he said, noting both public and firefighter safety could be at risk.
According to Rey’s letter, another round of hiring is planned for the region in July.
Teams have also been set up to improve firefighter retention and recruitment.
Federal legislation called for a report from the Forest Service on that issue by Feb. 1. The report, slimmer and less dire in tone than a draft put together by California-based officials, came two months late, and Feinstein asked the agency to try again.
Ethridge said he sees creation of the teams as a delay tactic.
“But again, nothing is being done about the issues.”
Kirchner said the agency wants to make sure the region can fulfill any proposals.
“I will say that it is absolutely not a delay tactic. Our regional forester is very serious about these issues.”
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