ANGELES FIRE PROTECTION CUT BACK SMALLER, STAGGERED CREWS TO FIT WITHIN BUDGET.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- The U.S. Forest Service is cutting back wildland protection in the Angeles National Forest from seven days a week to five to wring the most from its firefighting buck.

The cutbback comes as the county declares today as the start of the fire season.

Fifty-six fewer firefighters will man the 28 engines in the Angeles National Forest, and 40 regional ``hotshot'' crew members will be phased out.

``It's been stressed we need to live within our means ... We don't plan on having a lot of fires this year,'' said Don Garwood, deputy fire chief for the Angeles National Forest. ``We plan to make the budget stretch to the point it can, and the result is we have chosen not to hire as many people this year.''

Which is not to say that fires will not erupt, just that the agency is redistributing its manpower, he said. In 2004, 39,000 acres burned in the northern area of the Angeles, from Acton and Lake Hughes to Newhall.

One hundred-forty firefighters and three 20-person interagency hotshot crews will be on duty.

Before 2000, the agency had fewer fire crews and engines in the field, but for the past six years, the resources have been constant. Garwood said the budget has not changed significantly from last year, but the approach to staffing has. To avoid gaping holes in coverage, days worked by adjacent engine companies in the forest will be staggered. In prior years, seven-person crews were at the ready seven days a week, but this year five-person crews will work five days a week, said Cid Morgan, U.S. Forest Service ranger in the Angeles' Santa Clara/Mojave Rivers district.

Many seasonal or apprentice firefighters hired last year will not return this year, Morgan said. If the positions cut this year are not funded in the next couple of years, they could be at risk for permanent elimination.

Talks about how to manage the shortfall have been under way since last fall, but Angeles Forest officials did not see the final budget until a couple of months ago.

Morgan said the entire Angeles forest -- her district stretches from the Santa Clarita Valley to the Antelope Valley -- is considered a wildland-urban interface.

``(Fire) can go from anywhere in the forest into the adjacent community because of wind events,'' she said. ``Any community on the forest boundary is considered to be at risk.''

Newer communities sheathed in stucco and composite roofs may be better off in the event of a wildfire.

While the agency says it is adequately covering the area, if crews are pulled away to fight fires elsewhere, that could strain the force. Two local engines rotated to battle a blaze in Nevada. Morgan said the agency could be more stingy about sharing crews if the local risk is ``certain.''

``If we determine we need engines on the forest to cover attack needs, we will not let anyone go off the forest,'' she said. ``We probably will get to that position faster because of the shortfall.''

Many municipal agencies, including the Los Angeles city and county fire departments and the Ventura County Fire Department, pay higher wages than the Forest Service, and Morgan said the agency loses many qualified firefighters to its competitors.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

[phone]