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Posted by Tom @ Snake River on Thursday, February 05, 2009 at 01:26:02 :
In Reply to: OK, I understand everyones point...... posted by Nick on Wednesday, February 04, 2009 at 22:11:11 :
I think a lot of us from outside of the state of CA possibly do not understand CAL FIRE. A year ago, someone was on the forum belly acheing that they had a rural VFD that was equiped with CAL FIRE trucks, and that the bueaurcrats from CAL FIRE was coming in and reshuffleing the equipment to other places.
And we again did not really sympathize with his plight, but chastized him and his community for not being independant from the State of CA, so they must suffer the consequences of being at the public trough.
It really sounds like CAL FIRE is a huge state wide bureaucracy that should really be handled by the local county taxing districts.
You quote 350,000 calls a year. That is 40 calls an hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
You site that you fear for the public safety, but, hey, you even as a professional can only do so much. I serve with the busiest S&R unit in the State of Idaho, we have had to deal with 2 DOA's this past week. People come in from out of state, go to the most far-flung spot in the county and get in trouble. Do to time, weather, and circumstances beyond our control, we may not be able to get to them in a timely fashion and save their lives.
Like wise, cabins are snow bound, and we have even seen propane explosions blow the debris out into the river.
THe point being, you can't save them all, even with cutbacks or limited rescources, you do your best, and chalk the bad ones up to experience.
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