Gov. Brown: ‘We’re Getting Ready For The Worst’ California Fire Season

[Omaha Steve]

Source: KPIX

SAN DIEGO (CBS/AP) — All evacuation orders were lifted Sunday as firefighters gained the upper hand on the remaining four of nearly a dozen blazes that tore through Southern California last week — while California governor Jerry Brown warned he was gearing up for what could be the drought-stricken region’s worst wildfire season ever.

Gov. Brown told ABC’s “This Week” that the state has 5,000 firefighters and has appropriated $600 million to battling blazes, but that may not be enough in the future.

“We’re getting ready for the worst,” Brown said. “Now, we don’t want to anticipate before we know, but we need a full complement of firefighting capacity.”

The state firefighting agency went to peak staffing in the first week of April, instead of its usual start in mid-May.

FULL story and video at link.


Read more: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/05/18/gov-brown-getting-ready-worst-fire-season-california/

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A house burns at the Cocos fire on May 15, 2014 in San Marcos, California. Fire agencies throughout the state are scrambling to prepare for what is expected to be a dangerous year of wildfires in this third year of extreme drought in California. (David McNew/Getty Images)

[demigoddess]

1. Maybe they should outlaw

fireworks, cigarettes, and matches etc. Heard this big whopper of a fire was man-made. Charged with arson.

[toby jo]

2. Hell, they'd have to outlaw idiots.

[XemaSab]

4. One of the worst fires here was started by a guy who was mowing

[yeoman6987]

5. Arsons are making it even worse.

[tclambert]

6. You know, here in Michigan I see smokers toss their cigarette butts out car windows,

off of balconies, or just away from wherever they happen to be standing, as if they expect them to vanish in thin air. I keep wondering if people out west did that, too, and if so, how have they not burned down every forest. Michigan forests are not 100% fireproof. Yet I find cigarette butts in bushes, lawns, potted plants, pretty much everywhere. Sometimes even in ASHTRAYS.

[LeftyMom]

9. California has a $1000 fine for littering along roadways, and yes, that includes butts.

Not that it doesn't happen, but if it happens in front of a CHP officer who feels like making a point you can wind up writing a really big check.

Keeps that kind of thing to a minimum.

[demigoddess]

10. funny, we have that here

and I have heard some of the repubs in this area who throw their trash of all kinds out in the street or onto pieces of land that they don't own. They seem to think that anything they toss off their property is cleaned up by the city or county, and they are fine with that. Once someone threw out two refrigerators onto park land.

[busterbrown]

3. Maybe some of the wealthy home and land owners...will see the value of Tax Increases...

Especially for the Corporations which make billions off our resources..

[Journeyman]

7. And this from the man who declared DROUGHT OVER after one marginally wet winter in 2011. . .

I've liked most everything Gov. Brown has done in all his many years in office, but that decision was unconscionable. It took years of conservation and education efforts and, essentially, flushed it all away. Far better to have left the early declaration in force, and husbanded what little reserves we had, than to release the citizens from their perceived obligation to conserve.

Because it would be better for all if we recognized an unmistakable reality: California entered a period of permanent drought over 30 years ago. There are just too many people chasing too little water over too large an area. Too many too's.

[Catch2.2]

8. Too bad...

Too bad Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently scrapped all hiring for the Los Angeles Fire Dept. They had a whole list of candidates ready to go and he pulled the plug. They are already under staffed (by hundreds!) and over worked. Not to mention all the money wasted because of his actions. Heading into this fire season, there has never been a greater need for more Firefighters. Mayor Garcetti, next time try doing a little investigation before you have a knee jerk reaction and stop all hiring of Firefighters. No wonder the Unions backed his opponent during the elections.