Rural Solano firefighters need better equipment, funding, report says
Firefighters in one rural protection district are battling wildfires with a 26-year-old fire engine due to a lack of funds.
(File photo by Matthew Keys/Solano NewsNet)
Thousands of homes in Solano County are in real danger of burning to the ground during a devastating wildfire due to a lack of funding, modern equipment and a shortage of rural firefighters.
That was the conclusion of a grand jury report made public this week that painted a dire picture of the county’s rural firefighting force.
More than 400,000 people call Solano County home. Of those, around 18,000 live in rural parts of the county that are served by one of four fire protection districts. And while wildfires can spark just about anywhere these days, rural parts of the region are especially prone to devastating and destructive wildfires due to several factors, including terrain.
“The [fire protection districts] in Solano County try to protect county residents from wildfires, some with ancient equipment, volunteer firefighters and paltry funding,” the Solano County civil grand jury said in a report published June 30. “With another drought year upon us, the county needs to find some workable plans and sources of funds immediately.”
The grand jury specifically pointed to the Cordelia Fire Protection District as one that was in serious need of improvement. There, firefighters are constantly dispatched to vegetation fires, some of which threaten structures.
Despite that, firefighters in Cordelia “are dealing with an inadequate facility and a fire truck that is 26 years old,” the grand jury’s report said. Along with aging equipment, the grand jury said Cordelia’s fire chief, who was historically paid for his work, recently converted his own position to that of a volunteer in order to balance the agency’s budget.
“The story for the Cordelia [Fire Protection District] threatens to be a blueprint for other small fire districts in the area, which are only slightly better off financially,” the grand jury’s report said.
Those districts — the Vacaville Fire Protection District in rural Vacaville, Fairfield and Dixon, the Montezuma Fire Protection District in southeastern Solano County and the Suisun Fire Protection District — have similar challenges. Those challenges came into full focus last year when the LNU Lightning Complex Wildfire crossed out of neighboring Napa County and into rural Vacaville and Fairfield. The fire scorched more than 65,000 acres of land and destroyed hundreds of structures in Solano County.
All four fire protection districts dispatched volunteer firefighters to assist during the LNU Lightning Complex wildfire. But staffing shortages meant there were virtually no firefighting resources within their districts during the blaze, the grand jury said.
“Solano County has not accepted responsibility for protecting outlying areas from the yearly fires,” the grand jury charged. “Without active intervention by the county, addressing fire issues has been glacially and tragically slow.”
Things could be even worse this year: With below-average rainfall, “Solano County is in another dry year, creating a potential tinderbox this summer,” the grand jury warned.
“The fire districts are the county’s first line of defense as wildfires spring up or come from other areas,” the grand jury pronounced. “Now is the time, as the fire season begins in earnest, for the county to address the shortcomings of the [fire protection districts] with grant writing and other support resources and immediate funding to fill the rosters [with more] firefighters.”
Funds are out there to help do just that: The grand jury report pointed to one in particular called the “Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response,” a grant administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help smaller firefighting agencies “increase or maintain the number of trained, front line firefighters.”
“If the fire districts could take advantage of similar grants, they might have the breathing room they need to address the fire protection problems they face,” the grand jury report said, noting that Solano County had already received some federal assistance that could be used toward these initiatives.
The grand jury concluded its report with three recommendations for Solano County, including a directive to immediately seek out new sources of funding to improve the amount of firefighting personnel and their resources.
“Fire season is here,” the grand jury warned. “Procrastination is not an option.”
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