How short is the state about arsonists

California is desperately calling for help for firefighters from across the country and beyond, with everyone from Gov. Gavin Newsom to overwhelming firefighters complaining about a severe shortage of resources to combat this growing siege of lightning sparkling extinguishers.

“These fires are once again straining our resources, stressing our staff,” Newsom said at a news conference on Friday, recalling a visit with exhausted fire crews in San Jose a day earlier that prepared them to return to work. ‘I was in Santa Clara here yesterday meeting with some San Jose firefighters who were completely exhausted, and said we needed more support. They were just overwhelmed by what they saw. ‘

But how tight are we?

It is difficult to quantify. State officials say they have 12,000 firefighters currently battling burns. But spokeswoman Heather Williams, Department of State Forest Management and Fire Protection, could not say how that compares to past fire seasons and major burns, or how much the agency currently requires.

“There’s no magic number to say, ‘this number is the effective amount,'” Williams said. The 12,000 firefighters are roughly twice that deployed in the wake of the deadly 2018 Campfire.

An analysis by the Bay Area News Group of Cal Fire sources reported for current major fires and epic extinguishers in recent years suggests no clear difference in terms of incendiaries and engines burned per acre when comparing this year’s major burns and those in previous years. However, the figures represent only Cal Fire personnel and equipment, not those of other agencies, so it is not a reflection of the full response.

For example, for the 50,000-acre CZU Lightning Complex fires raging through Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties, Cal Fire had a firefighter for every 49 acres and engine for every 610 acres.

For the 219,067-acre LNU Lightning Complex in North Bay, Cal Fire had a firefighter for every 207 acres and an engine for every 2,148 acres. And for the even more massive 229,968-acre SCU Lightning Complex, Cal Fire had a firefighter for every 206 acres and engine for every 2,277 acres.

By comparison, Cal Fire had a 77,775-acre Kincade Fire from last year, Cal Fire had a fire department for every 1,414 acres and engine for every 15,552 acres. And for the 153,336-acre Camp Fire in 2018, the agency had a firefighter for every 144 acres and engine for every 2,101 acres.

“So many variables go into what resources are needed, and no fire is the same,” Williams said.

But firefighters on the front lines are very clear that they could use more help.

Bryan Weber, the Ben Lomond Fire Department Battalion Chief and a retired CalFire firefighter, said Friday that his biggest problem is lack of resources. His department currently uses all four of the department’s engines. However, he said, they could use closer to 50.

“There are so many fires in the state that we are just here and trying to treat this area to prevent the fire from spreading through the houses without almost any additional sources,” Weber said.

Scotts Valley Mayor Randy Johnson pointed this out, saying the roughly 1,000 firefighters they have in the area are underfunded due to unavailability of aircraft support due to thick smoke.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created additional complications, limiting the availability of the low-risk internal fire crews typically required by the state, as government officials have released early juvenile delinquents to track down prisoners and disperse them. to prevent the disease. Williams said Cal Fire, which is budgeted for 192 inmate fire crews, currently has just 90. But Newsom notes that the state has approved $ 72 million to hire more firefighters to make up for it, enough for an additional 838 firefighters – about 56 more crews, which averages 15 firefighters.

Newsom called his colleagues in 10 states who personally asked them to save firefighting personnel and equipment, and was able to secure 10 engines from Arizona, 25 from Oregon, five from Texas and Nevada, and another five from New Mexico. Firefighters are also coming to Australia, where it is currently winter and where California has sent crews to help with their forest fires in recent years.

None of that is particularly unusual, Williams said.

“It’s what we do when we get the call, that we also respond with resources,” she said.

But the nature of the current outbreak of fires makes it a specific punishment for arson sources, Williams said. Lightning has the tendency to ignite dozens of separate fires, each of which takes a lot of effort to detect and tamp, unlike, say, last year’s Kincade Fire, triggered by faulty high-voltage electrical equipment in one place during a windstorm. .

The sheer number of fires, several of which have been fused into monster blocks, poses special challenges, she said. The state’s single largest wildfire was the 459,123-acre Mendocino Complex in 2018.

This year, all told, 771,000 acres have been burned since Aug. 15, an area larger than Yosemite National Park.

Randy Moore, regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service, said Northern California is at level 5 on a scale of 1-5 that the Forest Service uses to measure the severity of the fire.