Coronavirus Stalks California's Wildfire Season

CALIFORNIA — Crackling flames won’t be all that threaten California firefighters this wildfire season. For the first time, they’ll be faced with another, invisible menace: the new coronavirus.

As state officials prepare for a "new normal" on the fire lines this year, their most pressing problem is keeping everybody safe at fire base camps — staging areas that, depending on a fire’s magnitude, are often the size of small cities housing thousands of firefighters and others providing support services.

"Everything is going to look different," said Cal Fire Deputy Director Mike Mohler. "Base camps will require four times the space, and firefighters must observe the same precautions as the public."

Tim Edwards, president of International Association of Firefighters Local 2881 — which represents more than 6,000 firefighters on Cal Fire’s payroll — agrees things won’t be the same.

“The norm this season will be seeing firefighters walking around with masks and bandannas," Edwards said. “It’s going to be hard. There’s no magic bullet, and there’s really no solution to social distancing when it comes to fighting wildfires. This is one area where union and management are not at odds.”

Edwards said he’s in constant contact with other fire union locals across the state discussing best practices and how to make them work, but ultimately respective fire chiefs make the decisions.

The coronavirus threat facing firefighters who are required to work in close proximity to each other both on and off the fire lines didn’t come as a surprise.

“We realized early on wildland fires would pose a unique challenge for us because you want to keep the virus from spreading,” said Brian Marshall, chief of the Fire & Rescue Branch at California’s Office of Emergency Services, which coordinates local government involvement in fighting wildfires.

“You better be looking at these issues before there’s smoke in the air, or you’re too late,” he says.

When the coronavirus first appeared in the country, Marshall said, OES began working with a multi-agency coordinating group for the southwest United States in planning for the wildfire season to take into account what was known about the virus.

“Considering a base camp is literally a city of thousands, you want to do everything you can to stop the virus from spreading and keep everybody safe,” Marshall said.

One priority this year will be to remove as many support personnel from base camps as possible. For example, Marshall said, finance teams are normally on-site to process paperwork needed for reimbursing outside agencies assisting in the firefight; they will be located at nearby hotels or motels.

Marshall noted that in advance of the fire season, state and local officials have made concerted efforts encouraging residents to create a defensible zone around their homes to help reduce the fire threat.

“This year, the reaction will be to jump on fires as fast as possible to eliminate additional risks posed by the coronavirus,” he said.

Since January, only 16 wildfires consuming 10 acres or more — considered “major emergency incidents” — have been reported, with Cal Fire responding to seven fires that burned 525 acres. Federal and county agencies handled the others.

What’s the wildfire forecast for the rest of the year?

“Only a fool predicts fire season,” says Cal Fire’s Mohler.

Although Cal Fire — officially known as the Department of Forestry & Fire Protection — is the most visible public face of the state’s wildfire suppression operations, it’s just one piece of a finely stitched quilt of local, state and federal agencies engaged in firefighting efforts. They also include the Office of Emergency Services, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the military

Along with its own areas of accountability, Cal Fire also provides fire protection service through some 150 cooperative agreements in 36 counties, 65 fire protection districts and 25 cities.

These partnerships are necessary due to the network of Direct Protection Areas — geographic regions where a specific organization has principal responsibility for fighting wildfires. Thus, in addition to its primary areas on state lands, Cal Fire may provide direct protection for some federal lands as well.

Cal Fire directly protects some 23.7 million acres of wildlands — 37,015 square miles — an area 30 times larger than the state of Rhode Island and more than triple the size of eight other states. The U.S. Forest Service protects about 2.9 million acres, with other federal agencies and individual counties responsible for an additional 4.4 million acres.

A department within the California Natural Resources Agency, Cal Fire has an annual base budget of around $2 billion, about half earmarked for firefighting and the rest for funding other activities that include public education and fire prevention awareness programs.

A separate emergency fund is maintained to cover the cost of additional resources that might be required for fighting large wildfires and can be augmented by the State Department of Finance if necessary. Since 2015, nearly $3 billion in emergency funding has been needed — more than half of that for the disastrous 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons.

Cal Fire’s budget for the current fiscal year ending June 30 is $2.1 billion. The state’s proposed 2020-21 budget released in January included $2.2 billion for Cal Fire; but with a looming deficit estimated at $54 billion, it won’t be known how the agency may be impacted until state budget revisions are released later this month.

While Cal Fire has thousands of firefighters on the payroll, it’s the partnerships with other agencies and local fire departments that provide an additional pool of manpower in the event of a catastrophic conflagration or several large fires burning at the same time.

One of those primary partners is the Forest Service, which can muster thousands of additional firefighters if necessary.

“None of us has been through a fire year in a pandemic before,” Brenda Kendrix, a Forest Service spokesperson, told Patch. “As we work through the uncertainties, our priority will be protecting firefighters and the people we serve from the effects of both wildfires and COVID-19.”

“Some steps we’re taking include social distancing among firefighters wherever possible, spreading out fire camps, issuing personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves, as well as screening and testing firefighters,” she said.

Private organizations, such as the Red Cross, also play an important role in wildfire response, becoming involved when there are evacuees.

Cynthia Shaw, a Red Cross spokesperson, told Patch her organization will have a smaller in-person presence during disaster responses this year to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

“We’ll be utilizing many volunteers in a virtual response capacity and also engaging members of the community who may be impacted but would still want to support the team on the ground as an event-based volunteer,” she said. “In addition, we also would stagger feedings and have set locations instead of the traditional mobile feeding.”