NYT discovers volunteer firefighting
For those who haven't yet seen it, the New York Times has a story in today's online version called, "With Pride, Californians Step Up to Fight Fires," about volunteer firefighters in Mendocino County. As those of us who live here know, these men and women are always at the front of the line when emergencies strike. What this current wildfire situation has told me - and I've said it already - is that we don't have enough resources in the state to cover what will be years to come of summer wildfires, and that our rural county got pretty much put to the back of the list when more populated counties went up. I don't argue that lives and property must trump forestlands, but if there were enough firefighters and tankers and equipment to go around Cal Fire wouldn't have to make those hard choices. Over and over we have heard fire officials tell us there's not enough to go around. In the aftermath, our state and federal legislators better be heeding this call - and not with legislation just to start collecting higher and higher fees from landowners. Firefighting serves us all.