Regional fire department for San Diego?

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Regional fire department for San Diego?

SAN DIEGO COUNTY – More discussion regarding a regional fire department highlighted a meeting Thursday of the San Diego Regional Fire Protection Committee.

Committee member and San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman told the board the county could use at least 25 reserve fire engines, which would cost $15 million and take about 18 months to build.

The engines could be combined with firefighting helicopters and existing regional equipment, such as decontamination vehicles, to form the beginnings of a regional fire authority, Jarman said afterward.

But no one can say with certainty who would run the new department or who would fund it.

“Maybe all of that together gives us a starting point for a regional authority, but it still is going to come down to a funding source,” Jarman said.

More than 60 fire departments operate in San Diego County, and the state's fire department, Cal Fire, directs resources during most major firestorms. But there's been a push since the October wildfires to improve coordination and response through a locally controlled agency.

The committee, co-chaired by county Supervisor Ron Roberts and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, plans to meet again later this month.

No comments:

Post a Comment

CAL FIRE NEWS LOVES COMMENTS...
- Due to rampant abuse, we are no longer posting anonymous comments. Please use your real OpenID, Google, Yahoo, AIM, Twitter, Flickr name.

****REMINDER**** Every fire has the ability to be catastrophic. The wildland fire management environment has profoundly changed. Growing numbers of communities, across the nation, are experiencing longer fire seasons; more frequent, bigger, and more severe, fires are a real threat. Be careful with all campfires and equipment.

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer." --Abraham Lincoln

View blog top tags
---------------------

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO TOP OF CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS HOME PAGE

How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Thursday, April 3, 2008