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FDAC F I R E D I S T R I C T S A S S O C I AT I O N O F C A L I F O R N I A
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2021 BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Jim Comisky 1st Vice President Frank Frievalt 2nd Vice President Eric Walder Treasurer Richard Pearce
FDAC STAFF Catherine Smith, Executive Director Carmen Berry, Administrative Director Dani Dejeu, Assistant David Garrison, Graphic Designer PHOTOGRAPHY Pexels, Pixabay and Unsplash The purpose of this Association shall be: 1) to present a united position on fire protection issues; 2) to coordinate with other associations with similar views on fire protection, including legislation; 3) to provide advisory services and any other services deemed appropriate by the Board of Directors that may benefit member agencies; 4) to keep member agencies informed on laws relating to fire suppression, emergency medical and other related services provided by member agencies; 5) to take an active role in the legislative process affecting public agencies providing fire suppression, emergency medical and related services. Thank you to all the authors in this issue for sharing with you their time and expertise. If you have an idea for a future article, please contact Carmen Berry at the FDAC office at cberry@ fdac.org. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FDAC. For more information on FDAC or this magazine, please contact the FDAC office at 916.231.2137 or visit the website at www. fdac.org.
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE A U G U S T 2 0 2 1
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ood morning FDAC Membership,
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to welcome you to this Quarterly Update and wish you well.
Jim Comisky, South Lake County Fire Protection District
Our Committees have been very busy these past few months and I would like to touch on several of them. Our Education Committee have determined that we in fact will hold our 1st in person training this fall. The Leadership Symposium will be held in Sacramento from October 24th through the 27th. The target audience will be everything from new Company Officers through Chief Officers aspiring to become a Fire Chief. A broad number of topics will be presented in areas such as; Labor Management relations, Leadership, District Finances, Behavioral Health, and many more. We are very excited to getting back to normal and deliver this high-end training to our members. Additionally, we are looking forward to the Spring of 2022 and hosting our in person Annual Conference in Napa. More to follow on that.
Another important element within AB 389 is the inclusion of 1797.201 language to ensure and reaffirm that .201 rights will not be compromised or marginalized in any way, shape or form. Meaning that we, the Fire Service can continue to deliver Emergency Medical Services as we have for many years. The EMSA Chapter 13 working group is still engaged, but activity has slowed down. Kurt Hinke and AP Triton, as well as FDAC, Cal Chiefs and several other closely monitor any progress. There have been no meetings for several month,. I will keep you updated as this evolves.
On July 27th FDAC, as part of our California Fire Chief Leadership (Presidents or chairs of FDAC, Cal Chiefs, Metro Chiefs, FIRESCOPE, Contract Counties, and Cal Cities), met with Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci and Cal OES Fire & Rescue Chief Brian Marshall to reestablish our quarterly in-person meetings. These meetings started back in the days when DRiSC. However, when COVID hit us the meetings dropped off. Director Ghilarducci was very open and informative. We discussed topics from the CFAA and the issues with the The Joint Legislative Task Force (FDAC and Cal Federal Fires, to ensuring the commitment from Chiefs) along with our Legislative Advocates at the State for Pre-Positioning resources when PPA, we continue to forge ahead and evaluate appropriate. all proposed legislation that has impacts on the California Fire Service. A great example of It was acknowledged that roughly 80% of the types of legislation that greatly impact us is personnel and apparatus on these major AB 389. events every year are Local Government resources and Cal OES supports and AB 389 clearly affirms that counties can advocates for us. I look forward to future continue to utilize subcontracting partnerships meetings in Sacramento to further advance for emergency ambulance services and our service delivery throughout the state. allows counties to develop and utilize similar subcontracting systems in the future, while also further specifying that a fire agency is authorized to enter into a written subcontract with a private ambulance service for these purposes as well.
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
In closing, I always want to remind our membership of the importance of maintaining awareness of our people and their mental health. Our members are seeing and dealing with a Fire Problem in the state like we have never seen. They are away from home and families for longer durations. The effects of COVID, and the civil unrest we saw last year, it all takes a toll. We can take a piece of equipment that is wore out and send it to the shop for an oil change and a tune up, and it will be good to go. Our personnel need the same from time to time. Be aware, have a plan and make sure they know you care about them. Be safe, be present and be well.
Chief Jim Comisky, FDAC President South Lake County Fire Protection District
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Fire Districts Association of California L E G I S L A T I V E A R T I C L E
Budget
Russell W. Noack, Public Policy Advocates, LLC Julee Malinowski Ball, Public Policy Advocates, LLC
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The California State Budget process is always turbulent, even when there is an infusion of $27 billion of COVID-19 relief funds from the federal government. After some false starts, the Governor and Legislature came to final agreement on a Budget immediately prior to taking their annual Summer Recess on July 16th. Legislators will return to Sacramento on August 16th to work on the remaining active bills before adjourning the first year of the two-year Session on September 10th. As reported earlier, the Governor did not allocate any COVID-19 relief funds to many special districts when he issued his May Revise of the State Budget. After FDAC members responded to an urgent outreach Call to Action requesting funding from the Newsom Administration and the Legislature, an appropriation of $100 million for COVID-19 relief for independent special districts that have encountered unanticipated costs or losses due to the public health emergency was amended into the second Budget bill, Senate Bill 129 (Skinner) (Chapter 69, Statutes of 2021) and was signed into law by Governor Newsom. The aggressive program implemented by FDAC leaders and staff was instrumental in securing critical funds for fire districts and will set the tone for future funding opportunities. The Department of Finance, with input from special districts, is currently working on developing the plan of operation, to begin by September 1, 2021, to distribute funds
that have not been received from other forms of fiscal COVID-19 relief from the state or federal government. The plan is slated to begin on September 1, 2021, and the application process details should be unveiled very soon. The recently enacted Budget bill also included funding for other programs of interest to fire districts. The appropriation of $25 million for pre-positioning of local government resources as part of the Master Mutual Aid System, a provision we sponsored in the past, was once again included in the Budget. Additionally, the Budget contained various items for funding local fire and public safety projects that flowed from special requests by individual legislators. The availability of funds for these district projects was directly related to the surplus of money in the General Fund. The Budget bill also contained a $1 billion appropriation for fire prevention and resiliency with the actual details of how the funds will be spent deferred to further action in trailer bills, which will be taken up later this year. Recall The process to recall Governor Newsom has been certified and set for vote on Tuesday, September 14, 2021. The timing was expedited by providing special funding
in the recently passed state budget and by determining the time frame required to print the ballots. Forty-two candidates have qualified for the Ballot seeking to obtain the highest number of votes if the Governor is recalled on the same Ballot. Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and reality television personality and former Olympian Kaitlyn Jenner received the early media attention and are running active campaigns. Assembly Member Kevin Kiley and former Congress member, Doug Ose have entered the fray as well. Lately, however, Larry Elder, a conservative radio talk show host who had to sue to get his name on the Ballot, has emerged as a known and viable candidate. Although none of these individuals have the public celebrity and visibility that Arnold Schwarzenegger enjoyed in 2003, they are aggressively working to replace the Governor. The Governor is treating the recall seriously and has activated his campaign on media. A major focus will be to get opponents of the recall effort to actually vote. Legislative Priorities for the Last Month of the Session The Joint Legislative Task Force is keeping a close watch on several bills that remain active and poised to move through the process when the Legislature returns on August 16th. Wildfire prevention and emergency management measures top the list. In addition to fleshing out the $1 billion appropriation for wildfire prevention mentioned above, several bills designed to improve mitigation efforts at both the state and local levels are alive and moving toward the Governor’s desk. Assembly Continues On Next Page
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Fire Districts Association of California L E G I S L A T I V E A R T I C L E Bill 9 by Dr. Jim Wood would establish an expanded role for the State Fire Marshal to work collaboratively with regional and local agencies and citizens to create fireadapted communities. Assembly Bill 1431 by Jim Frazier would establish goals for fuel treatment and vegetation management. Senate Bill 63 by Henry Stern would provide defensible space grant opportunities. Senate Bill 72 by Susan Rubio would call for a baseline study of how community wildfire risk reduction programs can be reflected in insurance rate policies. Assembly Bill 642 by Laura Friedman is designed to promote the use of prescribed fires and includes calling for a study of establishing a training center. Senate Bill 332 by Bill Dodd affords a limited immunity for prescribed burns and his Senate Bill 109 would create an Office of Emergency Technology Research and Development to assist in emergency response activities. Finally, in the EMS field, an important bill to clarify the “Fire-EMS Alliance” subcontracting model of delivering EMS services as utilized in Contra Costa County is expressly authorized under existing law has passed several committees to date. Assembly Bill 389 is authored by Tim Grayson, sponsored by Contra Costa County, and we have been successful in adding significant clarifying amendments. Some private ambulance companies remain opposed, and discussions are ongoing.
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Fire Districts Association of California F D A C Z O N E 3 R E P O R T
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n The Mission of the Fire Districts Association of California (FDAC) is to provide legislative advocacy, educational information, member services, informational resources, and to promote special districts that perform fire protection services. FDAC also has the values of:
Chief Brian Helmick, East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, FDAC Zone 3 Director
communication collaboration accountability transparency organizational flexibility cross section representation
Within FDAC’s Zone 3, Contra Costa County Fire, EMS, and Law Enforcement agencies have similar goals to specifically provide and share mental and emotional wellness services and related training. Over the past five years, Contra Costa County Fire Districts, law enforcement agencies, and EMS workers, have identified the need to develop consistent policies and training for a mental and emotional wellness system. The intent is to include support for all first responders, spouses, dispatchers, and retirees with post-incident mental and emotional challenges, and compassion fatigue.
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To accomplish this mission, a diverse group of public safety responders formed the CCCPSSS. To help support the development of CCCPSSS, county Fire, Law, and EMS agency representatives meet bi-monthly to discuss the outcome of previous incidents and to discuss program and training expansion and additional opportunities for response. In addition to public safety agencies, CCCPSSS has access to several Law and Fire Chaplains and culturally competent clinicians and therapists who are available to assist when needed. The CCCPSSS has a standardized approach to incidents. The goal is to allow each agency to maintain the lead role and only provide support as needed. When agencies do not have the appropriate resources to mitigate the after-effects of an incident, the CCCPSSS works to fill any identified response gaps (e.g. Peer Member, Chaplain, Clinician). The approach has proven to be successful within Contra Costa County as CCCPSSS is now endorsed and sponsored by the Contra Costa County Executive Fire Chiefs Association.
CCCPSSS was developed to provide support to agencies throughout Contra Costa and adjacent Counties. The organizational approach has always intended to be inclusive for all public safety industries, partner agencies, and counties. Furthermore, CCCPSSS is available and willing to share resources and concepts with other counties which desire to achieve a multi-agency approach for providing mental and emotional wellness services and training. For additional information on CCCPSSS services, training, or program templates, please contact President Chris Harder via cell at (707) 628-3089 or visit www.cccpsss.com or P.O.Box 30198, Walnut Creek, CA. 94598
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Fire Districts Association of California F D A C Z O N E 5 R E P O R T
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hile our zone reports will generally focus on a broader range of topics, I’ve decided to focus on the obvious and consuming one – wildfires, our ability to respond to them, and, respectfully, some of the disconnects between reality and our systems.
Chief Frank Frievalt, Mammoth Lakes Fire Protection District, FDAC 1st Vice President
Each of the counties in the Eastern Zone have had one or more fires this “season”, the largest and most destructive being the Tamarack involving Alpine County, holding at about 66,000 acres and 80% containment. We’re not done back here until the snow flies, some of the most destructive fires typically occurring on the leading edge of powerful cold fronts in December-February. These are rural/frontier Counties with some of the lowest population densities in the State and are almost exclusively protected by volunteer forces. These are farmers, ranchers, mechanics, teachers, a few retired firefighters, business owners that are heavily reliant on tourism; most are eligible to pack an AARP card. They carve out precious time to attend a training one night during the week, maybe a few extra on weekends. These are not “want-to-be’s”, these are “have-to-be’s” given the isolation of their communities. IROC, CICCS, CFAA, NWCG, etc. have varying degrees of recognition and understanding here. What is recognized and understood with devastating clarity is that each community will receive a stream/trickle of friends/neighbors resource support for about 90-minutes, then it will be 6-hours before any resources from outside the area will be on-scene and changing outcomes. As one of the very few career personnel in the area, I recognize that these personnel get no “volunteer/parttime” pass from the physics of fire or gravity, so we need to keep leaning into training & credentialing. It is just as true that we as a fire service system will need to meet and support them where they are at.
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I recently sat in (probably with many of you) on a CalOES call to discuss the shortage of resources and UTF’s in the State Mutual Aid system. You also know that shortly after the meeting a few ideas discussed came out in some policy statements (e.g., encouraging broader use of Task Forces rather than just Strike Teams, support the Task Force WaterHandling credential, shorten minimum deployments). I really applaud CalOES supporting those adjustments on the fly to make additional resources available during this fire season/ siege. It’s the kind of adjustment that helps close the disconnect between our systems (which are necessary and powerful) and our rural realities where many of our larger fires are occurring. I wish our administrative Federal Partners could better appreciate the distinction between what I’m writing about, and the large full-time organizations they are thinking about as they impose local agreement changes. Our Federal Partners in the field, the ones we work alongside, certainly understand the distinction. With such a reliance in the Eastern Sierra on agriculture and public land use, the same climate conditions blowing our wildfires into apocalyptic disasters are also devastating framing, ranching, and hobbling tourism experiences, which is to say it’s devastating our emergency responder’s lives before we even tone them out for wildfires. Concurrent with these conditions the area is, along with the rest of the country, still wrestling with COVID-19, and all the workplace and tourism uncertainty surrounding it.
Our fuel and fire conditions are about 8-weeks early, and in the absence of significant early moisture, we’re well on our way to eclipsing the supposedly “historic” 2020 Fire Season. I’m worried about the compounding risks to our WUI communities. I’m hopeful that our systems will discover and resolve some of the disconnects which limit access to a significant layer of rural local government resources. Lastly, and mostly, I’m grateful for the volunteer/parttime responders in these very remote areas.
A joint powers authority formed to enable fire protection districts to protect the communities they serve. www.fasisjpa.org FDAC
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