Wildfire spending escalates as blazes ravage California

Cal Fire bought a dozen helicopters for nighttime firefighting as part of a $3.3 billion investment in wildfire response and prevention this year, continuing a spending spree that shows no sign of relenting as wildfires of historic proportions ravage the state.

The helicopters and 13 new fire engines, along with $165 million in forest health and fire prevention grants were among big-ticket items cited in a Legislative Analyst’s report on wildfire spending that has mushroomed from $800 million 15 years ago.

“We have done more to address wildfires in just the last few years than has been done in all the last few decades,” said state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa.

But funding for fire prevention programs appears to have matched only half of the more than $200 million authorized by lawmakers, and Dodd said budget cuts or subtracting money from fire response may be necessary to cover the shortfall.

“There’s no way we can go without this,” he said.

Meanwhile, a new coalition of business and environmental groups wants California to spend $2 billion next year on wildfire prevention, including a $50 million commitment to prescribed burns, the time-tested protection against wildfires.

“Ecologically we know that California was born and bred of fire and now we’re seeing a lot of landscapes destroyed by fire,” said Kelly Martin, retired chief of fire and aviation at Yosemite National Park, at a news conference held by the Resilient Forests Coalition. “How we bring fire back into these landscapes is something that is desperately needed.”

The coalition’s call for fire protection — as opposed to what Martin called “reliance on a suppression industry” — comes as nearly 8,700 wildfires have scorched more than 4 million acres, killing 31 people and damaging or destroying more than 9,200 structures this year in California.

Since 2016, wildland blazes have blackened more than 8 million acres, more than three times the size of Los Angeles County.

“Fire behavior in our forests is far too extreme,” Paul Mason, a vice president at Pacific Forest Trust, a conservation nonprofit, said at the virtual news conference.

With climate change exacerbating the threat, he said, “We really need to increase the state effort to prepare for fire.”

The coalition wants that to start with a $500 million state appropriation in January, with half going to Cal Fire’s grant program that addresses forest health and fire prevention.

The $50 million earmarked for prescribed burns includes $10 million for a collaborative tribal burning program, with an additional $100 million for community safeguards like clean air and cooling centers, $75 million for emergency alert systems and disaster planning and $25 million for workforce development.

As step two, the coalition wants next year’s state budget to include $1.5 billion for a variety of fire preparedness actions at a state and local level, including steps to make buildings more fire-resistant.

The federal government, as the largest forest landowner in California, must also get involved, said David Edelson, forest program director for The Nature Conservancy, noting that more than half of the state’s recent wildfires have burned on federal land.

The state’s two largest wildfires — the 1 million-acre August Complex, now 92% contained, and the 459,123-acre Mendocino Complex that ignited in July 2018 — both burned largely in the Mendocino National Forest.

Federal agencies own and manage 57% of California’s 33 million acres of forest, while families, tribes and companies own 40% and state and local agencies hold just 3% of the woodlands.

In 2018, California pledged to spend $200 million a year for five years on forest health and wildfire risk reduction, Edelson noted. “No other state has made a commitment like that,” he said.

“The forests are in crisis, requiring an all-hands-on-deck response,” Edelson said at the press conference.

The coalition has not submitted any specific proposals to state or federal officials, but members are contacting them, said Sean Wherley, a coalition spokesman.

“I think the number ($2 billion) is large,” said Dodd, a legislative leader on wildfire issues. But he said the coalition is well respected, adding, “I’d love to work with them.”

The coalition, which has no website, includes the California Native Plant Society, California Wilderness Coalition, Pacific Forest Trust, Sierra Business Council, Sierra Forest Legacy, The Fire Restoration Group and The Nature Conservancy.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.