County bolsters firefighting assets by approving additions to resources

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors took several actions Sept. 23 to continue to enhance fire protection in San Diego County.

One 5-0 vote that morning authorized the competitive solicitation for a third firefighting helicopter, established $5,200,000 of appropriations for that helicopter, directed the county’s chief administrative officer (CAO) to partner with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to request that a national interagency fire center command repeater kit be pre-positioned in San Diego County for enhanced radio communication in the event of a major wildfire, directed the director of the county’s Department of Purchasing and Contracting to negotiate a reimbursement agreement with the City of San Diego for costs associated with use of the city’s helicopters capable of night operations, authorized the county fire chief to use “call when needed” funds to pre-position ground strike teams during high-risk weather, directed the CAO to work with regional land management agencies to create uniform messaging and descriptions of elevated fire danger conditions and to coordinate public communications regarding fire conditions, directed the CAO to work with regional land management agencies to ensure uniform civil enforcement for violations of fire regulations, adopted an updated area emergency operations plan, and updated the county’s Consolidated Fire Code (because that approval involves an ordinance, a second reading and adoption is necessary and is scheduled for Oct. 21).

A separate 5-0 vote approved a partnership between the county and San Diego State University’s Center for Human Dynamics to develop software and tools to improve the county’s ability to track social media references to disasters.

Following the May 13-16 fires, Board of Supervisors chair Dianne Jacob requested an after-action report analyzing response and vulnerabilities. The report was presented at the June 17 Board of Supervisors meeting and included 21 recommendations. The board directed the CAO to assist Jacob in holding stakeholder meetings which included a July 31 fire preparedness workshop and an Aug. 22 meeting at which a series of recommendations was proposed including the third helicopter, pre-positioned ground resources, improved very high frequency communications, and a reimbursement agreement with the city for night use of the city aircraft.

In July 2004, the Board of Supervisors approved the purchase of two fire and life safety helicopters while assigning operational control of those helicopters to the Sheriff’s Department, which incorporated them into the Aerial Support To Law Enforcement Agencies (ASTREA) unit. “The helicopters get there quickly,” said Supervisor Bill Horn.

Possessing two helicopters doesn’t equate to having two helicopters available. “Helicopters need maintenance,” Horn said.

The third helicopter will assure that the county will have two operational helicopters at any given time. “This allows two of them to be ready to go,” Horn said.

The county currently has two Bell 205 A-1++ helicopters. The Bell 205 A-1++ helicopter was determined to be the most economical choice for a third helicopter since it would be compatible with the other two aircraft in the fleet. Bell Helicopter no longer manufactures the 205 A-1++ helicopter, so the county would need to purchase a previously-manufactured aircraft and overhaul it with equipment and parts approved by Bell Helicopter. The supervisors’ authorization allows a competitive solicitation for either a Bell 205 A-1++ or a Bell 212 single-engine firefighting helicopter.

“It is one of the tools that is extremely important to us,” said Supervisor Ron Roberts.

In 2008, the Board of Supervisors approved a seasonal lease of two Superscooper fixed-wing firefighting aircraft along with a tactical fixed-wing aircraft. In 2009, the agreement was modified to a “call when needed” arrangement involving payment of standby fees for pre-positioning of aircraft prior to a forecasted wind event. The “call when needed” authorization was invoked Sept. 3 to add a third helicopter. The purchase of a third helicopter will likely reduce the future need to utilize “call when needed” contracts and thus reduce associated standby payments.

The addition of ground resources to the “call when needed” program will allow the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority fire chief to pre-designate firefighters from interested regional agencies during high-risk periods when additional resources may be necessary. The SDCRFA fire chief will work with regional fire chiefs to develop a system to identify proper personnel to be pre-designated under specific conditions.

Jacob noted that the aerial attacks retard fires, making them less difficult for ground crews to contain and extinguish. “It’s the boots on the ground that put out the fires,” she said.

While the county has a Regional Communications System which utilizes 800 megahertz transmission, public safety agencies operate on the very high frequency network to ensure smooth communication between local, state, and federal responders. The May 2014 fires indicated a need to supplement VHF capability when multiple fires are taking place. The pre-positioning of the National Interagency Fire Center Command Repeater Kit will allow local and external partner agencies to upgrade surge capacity and other capability more quickly while the collaboration with CalFire will allow the San Diego region quicker access to the mobile equipment.

The City of San Diego has two helicopters which have night air rescue and hoist capability and can also drop water at night. Night flying operations require specialized equipment and pilot skills. The current mutual aid agreement allows the use of the city’s helicopters at night by other agencies but does not fund those aircraft as a regional program, and the new agreement establishes a contract with reimbursement provisions to provide night hoists and night water drops within the entire San Diego region as necessary.

The area emergency operations plan is updated every four years. The basic plan and 16 functional annexes detail operational concepts related to various potential emergency situations, identify organizational components and responsibilities for implementing the plan, and identify areas of outside support which might be provided. The plan is coordinated with the emergency plans for each local jurisdiction in San Diego County. The revisions reflect current policies and operations including new capabilities and resources.

The California Building Standards Code and the California Fire Code are updated every three years. A local jurisdiction may have stricter regulations than the state code if climate, geography, and topography conditions warrant, and the county supervisors included a determination of such findings. A local fire district may also adopt more stringent standards upon appropriate findings. The Consolidated Fire Code provides a standardized code for all of the county’s fire districts, which creates standard conditions for the building industry and county planners.

“The best way to respond to wildfires is by preventing them altogether,” said Ron Lane, who is the county’s fire warden as well as the deputy chief administrative officer in charge of the county’s Public Safety Group.

SDSU’s Center for Human Dynamics was recently awarded a competitive grant of nearly $1 million from the National Science Foundation to work with the county’s Office of Emergency Services to refine software which will help the county identify trends, topics, and influential messages transmitted during a disaster. “This is a great opportunity for San Diego County to stay on the cutting edge of emergency communications,” Ron Roberts said.

Roberts noted that social media can provide a “multiplier” through shares but also carries the risks of misinformation and of not being seen by some followers. “Social media brings both new challenges and new opportunities,” he said.

The county has spent more than $285 million on fire protection activity since the October 2003 fires. “We are better prepared today than we’ve ever been before and we continue to make improvements,” Jacob said.

“We’re going to continue to learn as we progress,” said Supervisor Dave Roberts.

“I’m sure in the years ahead we’re going to continue to improve,” said Supervisor Greg Cox.

“We’re continuing to work together. We’re continuing to use technology,” Ron Roberts said.

“I’m very happy with this item. It’s really a big step forward in terms of public safety,” Horn said.

Horn has been a San Diego County resident for 71 years. “Fire is a recurring event for us,” he said. “I just think we need to do all we can to try to keep them to a minimum.”