forestry firegeezer on 03 Jul 2008 09:37 am
“There Is No Fire Season Anymore”
THUS SAID CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENNEGER as he addressed the press on Wednesday. With more than 1,400 wildfires burning in California alone, thousands of firefighters have been working non-stop for 3 weeks and more.
Monterey Herald photo of Basin Complex fire
in the Big Sur State Park
Yesterday the entire Big Sur State Park area was issued a mandatory evacuation order after the Basin Complex fire jumped a containment line and began moving toward the tourist settlement. The fire is threatening nearly 1,800 homes and 20 commercial buildings.
The incident commander for the Basin fire said that the No. 1 priority in the battle Wednesday was to protect Big Sur and keep the fire from crossing more lines, especially those in the Dolan Ridge area. “If the fire gets established there, it’s another 20 miles south to the next containment line,” he said.
Announcing that the state is recognizing that what used to be a forest “fire season” that ran from late summer through the fall, the governor is setting a new policy that recognizes the extension of the fire season to most of the year. He is proposing a tax of $6 to $10 on fire insurance policies to provide $100 million annually which would allow the state to employ wildland firefighters on a year-round basis and buy hundreds more fire engines.
The Associated Press covered his press conference and the latest on the Basin Complex (Big Sur) fire in this video report:
