Bill would add more than 1,000 firefighters to Cal Fire

Wildfire Awareness Week kicks off as we enter the wildfire season. The heat is already cranking up making it more likely for wildfires to spark up.

On Monday, the State Senate Appropriations Committee heard a bill that would add 1,124 firefighters to Cal Fire. It would also require the state to add more staffing throughout the next two years.

SB 1062, also known as the Fixing the Firefighter Shortage Act of 2022, says it would "require the department to maintain a standard minimum level of staffing for each of its engines, as specified, without the regular practice of forcing overtime on its personnel."

"The last 10 years have been the worst fire season that we've ever seen," said Cal Fire information officer captain Richard Cordova.

The bill would require three firefighters for each fire engine. To meet this minimum standard, 356 full-time firefighters would be added. Also, it would require Cal Fire to hire 16 more fully-staffed fuel crews, a total of 768 more firefighters.

State fire stations like in Idyllwild and in Beaumont would get more firefighters.

"That will also help the citizens of Coachella Valley where we have more firefighters at the state facilities, where it won't impact the firefighters at these city stations that we have in the Coachella Valley," said Cordova. "Those firefighters will be able to stay in place and protect the citizens of those cities."

Cal Fire would need to make a new, long-term staffing plan for the department through 2030 "to meet the new era of wildfire firefighting."

"We've noticed in the last umpteen years, that our employees have been struggling, especially with mental illness and being able to do their jobs," said Cordova.

According to the bill, Cal Fire only has 2.7 firefighters per engine instead of the recommended 3 or 4 per engine. It adds that Cal Fire is only able to put three people per engine when firefighters are forced to work overtime.

The bill says over the last four years, more than 50,000 calls have been made by firefighters to state mental health hotlines. In response, the bill aims to stop overworking firefighters 

14 of the largest 20 wildfires in California history have occurred just in the last decade.

The 2020 fire season had more than 4,000,000 acres of California destroyed by wildfire, which is more than double any other year in recorded fire history. The state has suffered over $30 billion in insured losses in just the 2017, 2018, and 2020 fire seasons.

"It's only a matter of weeks to a month where we start seeing our fire activity start impacting certain areas of California," said Cordova.

The bill would still need to pass the Senate and Assembly before Gov. Gavin Newsom could sign it and make it law.