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Schwarzenegger urges new fees to boost firefighting

26/05/2008 23:27:00 Milorad Topalovic

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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, right, thanks fire cadets at a fire command post in Gilroy, California, Friday.

He visited the scene of the 3,100-acre Summit fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California, where about 1,100 firefighters a

He visited the scene of the 3,100-acre Summit fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California, where about 1,100 firefighters are working to contain the blaze. He praised them as "the best-trained, the most courageous, the most well-equipped and most selfless firefighters in the world," but said the state needs to be better prepared for such emergencies.

Schwarzenegger is pushing for an increase in homeowners' insurance fees he said would raise $100 million for fire protection.

"I think we need those extra engines. We need more manpower. We need more aircraft. We need to update our aircraft that are outdated," he said. "So there's a lot of work that needs to be done, but we are continuing to increase all those things, so our firefighters are very well protected and that we are protected."

The fast-burning Summit fire grew to 3,100 acres Friday, leaving 12 burned structures in its wake and prompting rescues and evacuations in two counties, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. But firefighters were being helped by calmer conditions -- 30-mph winds that had fanned the blaze faded away.

Still, the fire was only 20 percent contained Friday afternoon, the agency reported. It has threatened about 500 homes and 20 businesses, said Chris Morgan of the forestry and fire protection department, and more than 1,700 people have been evacuated.

Five planes and 10 helicopters have been used to drop water on the fire since it began early Thursday, including a "supertanker" -- a jumbo jet modified to battle fires from the air. The fire's cause is still under investigation.

Schwarzenegger said the state is grappling with fires that no longer seem limited to the typical spring period.

"Now we have seen fires all year round," he said.

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Comments (3 posted):

Kader on 21/03/2012 22:57:22

Great point Chief. Like you, I had never thought about this boefre, and it really goes to show that the more eyes you get looking at an issue the more you will be able to harvest.In terms of canceling the Mayday let me add this. When I read the tag line my first thought was that you were talking about the person who initiated the Mayday being able to cancel the transmission. I think all departments should have a comprehensive Mayday guideline/procedure. The first element is that all Maydays are no harm/no foul. If you feel like you are in trouble call the Mayday. A member will not be judged about this, mainly because the decision to initiate an emergency request is pretty subjective. The only who really knows the conditions at the time was the person who made the call. If we allow this to be judged by others then some members might not be willing to call a Mayday when it is needed.Maydays should not be cancelled by the person who calls them. There is a good chance that one’s situational awareness was skewed and that lead to the Mayday. It is very unlikely that an individual in that situation will be able to regain their situational awareness to the point where they can make good decisions regarding this. Even if the member does regain their ability to self-extricate what would happen if they got into to trouble again. It happened once, it could happen again. A second Mayday would cause so much confusion it would be next to impossible to regain any true element of control. If you call a Mayday then we will extricate you from the hazardous environment and we will not be judgmental about the reasons behind the Mayday.This still leaves the issues of how you would terminate a Mayday call. I think that the best way is to adopt a common term such as ‘The Mayday has been completed”, the criteria for making that determination, and a procedure to make that transmission. The criteria could be as simple as the involved member has been removed from the structure and that all resources deployed for the Mayday have a P.A.R. outside the building. Once these criteria have been then the transmission could be simi-cast on all frequencies used by operating forces.I hope these thoughts might add something to the conversation and give departments some additional tools to help manage a Mayday.

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