Interagency Panel: Agency Fire Management
Summaries
Chair: Philip N. Omi
California Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection: Fire Management
Summary1
Wayne Mitchell2
Abstract
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) is a full service wildland,
rural, and urban fire department. CDF responds to 6,600 fires during an average year and contains
about 95 percent of the fires at less than 10 acres. About 55 percent of CDF's $452 million annual
budget is used for wildland fire protection, with the remainder used for resource management, Fire
Marshal operations, local government rural and urban fire protection, and administration. CDF
fire managers supervise 17,700 professional, seasonal, volunteer, and inmate firefighters that
operate a full spectrum of wildland fire fighting equipment.
Responsibility and Jurisdiction
In 1905, the California legislature established the State Board of Forestry (later renamed the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection). The board was given a
mandate to provide protection to the forest and water resources of the state and
to set policy for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF)
in the administration of protection programs. The legislature also charged the
Board of Forestry and Fire Protection with identifying those California lands
where the fiscal responsibility for wildland fire protection is primarily the
responsibility of the state (State Responsibility Area or SRA). The board has
identified about one-third of California's 100 million acres as SRA. About onethird of the land is the responsibility of the Federal government, and the
remaining one-third is local government responsibility, either incorporated cities,
cultivated farmland, or desert.
Federal land management policies of the last century (1800's) were designed
to settle the western frontier. Railroads were deeded every other square mile of
land. Mining claims became scattered across much of the landscape. Parks and
reserves were set aside for future generations, and military reservations were
established. The result is a patchwork of fiscal responsibility for wildland fire
protection. About 60 years ago, the fire protection agencies got together and
swapped responsibility for fire protection purposes. This was done through an
interagency agreement known as the Four Party Agreement, signed by CDF, the
USDA Forest Service, and the USDI's Bureau of Land Management and National
Park Service. Six counties provide wildland fire protection services under
contract with CDF. CDF also works cooperatively with local government,
contracting for rural and urban structure fire protection. These agreements allow
the fire protection agencies to take a giant step toward an efficient fire protection
delivery system.
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Key Fire Management Concepts
There are several key concepts in CDF's approach to wildland fire management.
CDF fully supports cooperative fire protection. Severe fire conditions frequently
challenge all of the fire services in California, sometimes requiring national
support. Cooperative efforts such as FIRESCOPE, the California Master Mutual
Aid Agreement and a five western state compact are examples of statewide
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-173. 1999.
An abbreviated version of this
paper was presented at the Symposium on Fire Economics,
Planning, and Policy: Bottom
Lines, April 5-9, 1999, San
Diego, California.
2
Staff Chief, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, P.O. Box 944246, Sacramento, CA 94244-2460. e-mail:
wayne_mitchell@fire.ca.gov.
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Session I
Fire Management Summary-Mitchell
cooperative efforts. CDF also runs fully integrated initial attack operations on the
basis of mutual threat and automatic aid at the local level. The department's
suppression organization is built on a foundation of aggressive initial attack.
CDF uses a balance of initial attack forces, engines, bulldozers, hand crews, and
aircraft to put fires out quickly. Historic analysis of our workload shows episodic
fire events with multiple large costly fires. To meet this challenge, CDF operates
a statewide command and control system and maintains a depth of resources
and participates in mutual aid agreements to staff and manage multiple fire
situations. CDF suppresses thousands of fires each year. To meet this workload,
the department has built a decentralized organization structure and delegates
authority to the fire manager on the fire line. The Department does not rely on
suppression alone. We have a fully integrated fire management program that
includes fuels management and prescribed fire and all aspects of a modern fire
prevention program.
The Fire Workload
The department responds to over 250,000 incidents each year. Of these, about
6,600 are wildland fires that burn about 135,000 acres. About 95 percent of these
fires are contained at less than 10 acres. The department has a prescribed fire
program for landowners and burns about 40,000 acres per year in fuels reduction,
range improvement, and wildlife habitat improvement burns.
Organization and Budget
CDF manages the organization from a Sacramento headquarters, two region
offices, 21 ranger units and 6 contract counties, 227 State and 410 local
government fire stations, 13 air attack bases, 9 helitack bases, and 41 conservation
camps housing 195 fire crews. This organization employs 3,800 full time
professionals, 1,400 seasonal firefighters, 5,600 local government volunteer
firefighters, 2,600 volunteers in prevention, and 4,300 inmates, wards, and corps
members. This staff operates 1,036 fire engines (336 State and 700 local
government), 195 crew vehicles, 105 rescue squads, 13 aerial trucks, 58 bulldozer
units, 5 mobile communication centers, 11 mobile kitchens, 19 air tankers, 11
helicopters, and 13 air attack planes. CDF's $452 million annual budget is spent
on resource management ($27 million), the office of the State Fire Marshal ($10
million), administration ($38 million), local government fire protection ($129
million in reimbursements), and wildland fire protection ($248 million).
California Fire Plan
The department has been shifting its strategic approach to wildland fire
protection as it implements the Board's California Fire Plan. The board recognizes
the natural role of fire in California's ecosystems, and they recognize that the
initial attack organization has achieved a 95 percent success rate.
In their 1996 fire plan, the board set a goal of minimizing costs and losses of
wildland fires. In this plan, the Board defined a pro-active framework for
wildland fire planning based on several key concepts. First, the Board calls for
public stakeholder participation in the planning process. The process is based on
a risk assessment of the level of wildland fire protection service, flammability of
fuels, frequency of severe fire weather, and public and private assets at risk. The
plan identifies high priority areas for pro-active prescriptions to reduce the
threat of costly damaging fires. Community-based fuels, ignition management,
and suppression enhancement projects are planned and implemented. This risk
assessment-based decision process includes tactical and strategic economic
models that allow fire managers to test alternative solutions.
This strategic approach has lead to the development of statewide and local Fire
Safe Councils. These councils provide a forum for local stakeholders to get together,
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USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-173. 1999.
Fire Management Summary-Mitchell
Session I
assess their fire problem, and define appropriate solutions. Currently, there are more
than 50 local fire safe councils of one form or another. The director of CDF has taken
one other step with our Federal partners. Two years ago, the director called a summit
of the Federal, State, and local wildland fire agencies and interested stakeholders.
California's fire problem was discussed during a 3-day meeting. The outcome was
the formation of an Alliance for a Fire Safe California. The Alliance partners are
working together to remove barriers that prevent local project managers from
completing pro-active fire management projects.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-173. 1999.
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