FIREFIGHTING FUNDING RESTORED.Byline: Steve Geissinger Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO - Alerted that budget cuts could increase the potential for deadly firestorms, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈaloɪ̯s ˈʃvaɐ̯ʦənˌʔɛɡɐ] said Friday that he'll allocate $17 million to put the state's fleet of 23 air tankers and 335 fire engines at the ready. Schwarzenegger restored nearly $7 million to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection For other uses of "CDF", see CDF (disambiguation). The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) or CAL FIRE is the State of California's agency responsible for the administration of the state's private and public forests. , filling a gap that Deputy Director Jim Wright said would have forced his agency to either ground a few of its fast-attack planes, mothball moth·ball n. 1. A marble-sized ball, originally of camphor but now of naphthalene, stored with clothes to repel moths. 2. mothballs a. some fire engines or both. ``We want the full fleets out there and to protect the people from fires,'' Schwarzenegger said. The governor also augmented his original budget proposal, which included money to replace 40 CDF (1) (Central Distribution Frame) A connecting unit (typically a hub) that acts as a central distribution point to all the nodes in a zone or domain. See MDF. fire engines, with $5 million to buy 20 more engines. Another $5 million in the governor's updated budget will go to the Office of Emergency Services emergency services Emergency care '…services …necessary to prevent death or serious impairment of health and, because of the danger to life or health, require the use of the most accessible hospital available and equipped to furnish those services' for 20 engines that will be loaned to local government agencies until they are needed by the CDF. Money for the allocation is coming from a one-time windfall of more than $2 billion from an improved economy, at a time when heavy rains have increased the growth of brush and grass in fire-prone Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . Carroll Wills of the California Professional Firefighters called the allocation an ``acknowledgment that California has critical needs in protecting against catastrophic wildfires.'' During the fire season of 2003-04, Southern California blazes killed 17 people and destroyed more than 2,300 homes. Steve Geissinger, (916) 447-9302 sgeissinger(at)angnewspapers.com |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion