After La Fires Senators in California insist on year -round firefighters

Senate President Mike McGuire offered state firefighters on Tuesday to work all year round at the site of the seasonal workforce, which the agency currently serves for nine months each year. The increased duty for about 3,000 seasonal firefighters is expected to cost at least $ 175 million.

“This escalating crisis has stretched firefighters dangerously thin“, Said McGuire at a press conference in Sacramento, surrounded by 21 other state senators and Union representatives representing the Kalfif firefighters.” The threats to their health and safety, along with the threats to local communities – they have never been more bigger. ”

McGuire’s proposal is aimed at dealing with the growing fire season in California – which usually lasted from June to October in the 1990s, but is now considered from May to December, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Calfire.

The agency said it did not track how many fires occur outside the expanded fire season each year, but the Calfire website shows that two fires reported outside The firefighter season in 2024Burning a total of 250 acres. No fires have been reported on the website During the off -season in 2023S The extended season is partially driven by a hot and drier climate according to Studies of Civil and Environmental Engineers at the University of California, IrvineS

Calfire has about 6100 permanent officers, in addition to 3,000 seasonal firefighters, who are usually fired between January and March.

“For three months out of the year, we are downloading one -third of our engines because of an inadequate way of Calfire staff in today’s world,” Tim Edwards, president of the Union, representing Calfire firefighters, told press conference. “There is no fire season in California. The fires are year-round, as we have just witnessed ”in the Los Angeles area.

The rare January fires in the Altadena and Pacific Palisades killed 24 people and damaged about 16,000 homes and businesses. The state brought firefighters from Portland and Houston, as well as Canada and MexicoS

Calfire did not have a comment on McGuire’s proposal. But Jesse Torres, the head of the battalion and a spokesman for the agency, said more staff would not necessarily help fight fires in southern California because of the strong winds that made the flames spread rapidly. He said the larger, year-round staff would allow more prevention work and allow firefighters to rest.

According to McGuire’s proposal, seasonal firefighters will be transferred to year -round employees and 356 firefighters of the agency will operate throughout the year.

Governor Impose on a veto such account Last year from Sen. Tim GraysonDemocrat from Antioch. NEWSOM wrote that the state is already in the process of hiring 2000 additional year -round firefighters because of staff levels required in Cal Fire Union’s most new contractAnd he wrote that the laws for state civil service will require temporary firefighters to apply for permanent positions.

Asked for a comment on McGuire’s proposal, the governor of the governor said he did not usually comment on the hanging legislation. McGuire told the press conference that his new plan would deal with the governor’s fears about the legality of the full -time season, creating a new classification of employees.

“We were moving at a tempo that nature was not waiting for, and the fires were not waiting,” Grayson told Calmatters on Monday last year a bill. “We learn that climate change continues its march forward with a pace we need to catch up with.”

The service of the chairman of the Assembly Robert Rivas did not respond to a request for a comment on the Senate proposal.

There is also the question of costs: McGuire said the efforts would be funded by the State’s General Fund and would require negotiations through the budget process.

However, the budget has not been finalized until June – so McGuire said he hoped his plan could move faster.

“I think most of the Californians would like to be able to see this investment yesterday,” says McGuire, who represents the fire north coast of the state from the bay area to the Oregon border.

McGuire’s proposal is the latest in the legislature’s efforts to help those affected by fires in Southern California.

Installation revealed a package associated with fire Last month, he focused on the restoration of housing, including a pause bill of most new construction standards, the one that will accelerate the inspections of state housing permits, and another that would ease the resolution of coastal units.

Last week, in efforts flavored by the governor, the legislature also approved $ 2.5 billion for state and local agencies To help them monitor recovery.

The Senate Republican Coach, representing nine of the 40 state senators, also presented its own fire-related fire proposals on Tuesday. The GOP plan focuses on the storage of water, the tax credits of homeowners for effort to dismiss their properties and longer convictions for fire-related crimes.

“While the Senate Republicans are encouraged by the original bilateral nature of the Senate’s response to the wild fires in Los Angeles so far, they remain cautious from potential guerrilla pitfalls for this critical legislation, since the set of past effort The governor of the governor was largely blocked by legislative Democrats and Governor years ago, “a cause statement.