Saturday, 07/05/2008 Print Version |

Governor Receives Briefing on Gap Fire and Firefighting Efforts Statewide

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: Good morning everybody and it's great to be back in Santa Barbara, too bad under these kind of circumstances. But first of all I want to just say thank you very much to some of the people that are standing behind me, especially the people that have given me the briefing just now. I want to thank Sheriff Bill Brown for being here today and helping us out so much; and Chief Candace Gregory who is from Cal Fire who has been briefing me -- she's right here -- she has been briefing me for the last two weeks and even before then, bringing me up-to-date on all those different fires; and Chief Jim Smith from the United States Forest Service, I want to thank him, also -- he's hiding back there; and then Chief John Scherrei from the Santa Barbara Fire Department, we want to thank him also very much for the briefing.

I've been traveling up and down the state of California going to the various different fires. And you can imagine that this state is very well prepared for fires but when you wake up one morning like I did 14 days ago and I got a briefing that we had 500 fires all over the state of California, it was quite a shock to me because I've heard that we've had 25 fires at one given time or 20 fires or 27 fires but not 500 fires; only to find out that the next morning there was 1,000 fires statewide and then the next morning it was 1,400 and then it was 1,700. So it was really overwhelming for the state of California to see this many fires all because of lightning that happened over the last, you know, 14 days.

So, this of course is a fire, the Gap fire that is a great concern to us. It's now getting the top priority and this is why I'm here today, to go and get the briefing and see what other additional resources are needed. But let me just give you a few of the numbers. The gap fire is 8,357 acres that have burned so far, 24 percent contained. More than 3,000 structures are threatened right now. 1,855 homes have been evacuated. A shelter is up and running and after this press conference I will be visiting this shelter to just see if the people are okay and if they need something over there. The shelter is in the San Marcos High School. And, of course, I've declared already a State of Emergency for this area last Wednesday.

We have, so far, 1,072 personnel, firefighters, fighting those fires. We have 141 fire trucks out there and I'm sad to say that two firefighters got injured so far and we hope they have a quick recovery.

Statewide the figures change. We have 520,000 acres burned so far. 67 structures have been destroyed. More than 20,000 personnel are out there fighting the fires. We have 1608 fire trucks statewide, more than 100 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. And 81percent of the fires have been contained. And tragically we have lost one firefighter who has passed away. So our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

And so all of this is, obviously, a massive, you know, part of our fighting the fires. We have -- you know, the federal government has been very helpful in fighting the fires and we want to thank them very much for their great work. And we want to thank, also, the local government, the county and the cities and everyone working together. This is the only way you can get something like this done when everyone is very well-coordinated and works together. We want to also thank law enforcement, because law enforcement is an extremely important part in all of this, especially when it comes to evacuations, to organize the evacuations and also to keep the homes safe after the people have been evacuated.

We want to thank also the National Guard that have been extraordinary, that have come in from day one. And we now have an additional 400 National Guard. I announced already earlier this week 200 and yesterday I announced an additional 200. And those National Guards will be trained by Cal Fire so they can relieve some of the firefighters, because the firefighters are stretched thin. They're exhausted, they're tired, they haven't gotten much sleep. So it's important that they rotate them out all the time so they get some rest.

Many of the firefighters have been working, 24, 36, 48 hours without any sleep at any given time, so it's really very, very tough work and we want to thank them for their extraordinary work. I always say that we're very fortunate in California, because we have a lot of disasters and if it wouldn't be for those heroic firefighters that are the best trained, the most courageous, the best experienced, most experienced firefighters in the world, if it wouldn't be for them we wouldn't be this lucky. But we are very lucky to have them and we want to thank them so much for the great effort. Let's give them a big hand (applause).

Now, obviously there will be many more fires and this is why I think it's important to also think about not only the fires but also what happens after the fires are put out. So I think, you know, recovery efforts are always very important. So I signed an executive order to boost our recovery efforts. We will waive replacement fees, for instance, of birth certificates, drivers licenses or other of critical documents. We are cutting red tape to speed up the cleanup efforts, the debris removal, the repair of environmental damage from the fires. I'm also asking the Franchise Tax Board and the State Board of Equalization to assist fire victims with filing tax extensions and provide relief from late penalties and assessments.

So there's all kinds of things that we're trying to do to cover ourselves to help the people as much as possible and to get them back, get their lives back and to get their homes back and rebuild everything.

Our firefighters have battled now, like I say, more than 1,700 fires. And it's very important to note that up until recently we had a fire season, which meant that late summer throughout the fall we had the fire season. Now there is no more fire season. There are fires all year around. And what we see now means that we will need more resources. And I think that it is-- we have already proposed in our budget an emergency response initiative which I think is very important. That means more equipment, more manpower. A modest assessment on commercial and residential property insurance will add extra firefighters, extra fire trucks and extra aircraft and much more. This means one dollar per home per month. So it's not much but it will get us a lot of resources, additional resources. So I hope that every Californian out there makes sure to call your legislators to let them know that when they pass the budget that part of that budget ought to be approved which is an Emergency Response Initiative.

So, thank you very much and now -- (applause) -- I would like to have Chief Candace Gregory come out and give us a little bit of an update on the fires right here, please.

CHIEF GREGORY:   Thank you very much. As the governor talked about, we had a lot of fires statewide from the northern tip of California down to the south end that we were hit with very quickly, and we've been working very, very hard. Firefighters have been working long, as he indicated, some two and three weeks. And it's a huge morale boost for our firefighters when they see the public support that they get. As I walked through the Incident Command Post and saw all the donated cookies and goodies and stuff that have come from the community, that's really touching. It's also really supportive to the firefighters and they get a great morale boost when our governor comes to visit them at the fires to help support them and show his appreciation, that means a heck of a lot. So thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do that.

We are making headway on the fires. Just yesterday out of the fires statewide we contained some more fires which mainly meant putting a line around them so that we can release firefighters to go and fight fires that are popping up, such as this fire which came up after the lightning strikes. And today we have estimated we will contain several more. So we are making great headway on this, and we're putting all the resources that the incident needs here to help put this fire out. I don't know if you all saw Air Tanker 910 fly yesterday, the big-old air tanker. But we have a lot of resources that we have committed to here thanks to the Forest Service and Santa Barbara County and all the many, many firefighters that are working here from many fire stations and fire departments from throughout the country, and I believe we have 40 or more states represented in this state-wide fight on this firefight along with the National Guard and military to help abate these hazards.

Chief Grijalva, would you like to say any words?

CHIEF GRIJALVA: No, go ahead.

CHIEF SMITH: I'm Jim Smith, the Incident Commander here, and just want to say that we can't thank enough for the unified command and the cooperation with our counterparts in this effort, this fire. Be under no illusion that we are going to be out of the woods in this thing. This is a tough, tough firefight. And the troops out there have done one hell of a job maintaining this fire to keep it out of the structures in there, and I can't thank them enough. And Governor, I appreciate all your support, and I'd like to turn over to my counterpart John to say a few words.

CHIEF SCHERREI: This has been a very tough firefight. There have been times when I've gone away from the incident and thought there might be 100 homes lost when I came back. At this moment we don't have any significant structures, and that's only because of the firefighters that are here have done a terrific, heroic effort. Some of them had to go into the garage of the house and stay there, keep their engine running and squirt water when there was a moment and the fire came up to the front porch and wrapped around. So afterwards we're going to have some evidence out there of some blackened areas right up to the teeth of the different structures.

So my heart goes out to the firefighters who have been coming in for a few days now. And when you're 1701 on the list, we needed resources and we asked and at the beginning some were not available, but now we're getting much better assets, and that's partly because of the governor's effort on that. So I really support and thank him personally for coming here. And I know the citizens and the firefighters, this is a great morale boost. So thank you, Governor.

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: I just want to bring one other personality here which is my friend, Senator Maldonado, because he has been traveling up and down and he has been going to a lot of those fires. And he is always the one that calls me right away. He is representing this area so well and the whole state so well, because it doesn't matter where a fire is, if it is in his district or in his area or not, he calls and he's on top of it. He's always concerned about fires. So why don't you come out and just say a few words, please.

SENATOR MALDONADO: First of all, thank you, Governor. I do represent a large district, and it started months ago in May. It started in Santa Cruz County -- you remember that -- we never expected a fire in May. But I just want to say thanks to the Governor and to the people at Cal Fire, Ruben, and to the firefighters. You folks have been fantastic. And yes, I've called the Governor, and yes he's responded every single time. And it is amazing.

And I know that on the front lines we have the firefighters. We also have the residents, the people of California who grow impatient when fire is getting close to their home, and we know that. And I just want to say to the people of California that Governor Schwarzenegger has been there since day one, and he's been relentless. And this is a day after 4^th of July and look where he's at -- he's at a command center fighting for the people of California. So you're in good hands with this man. Thank you (applause).

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: I just want to stress how important it is. If you think about one thing being important besides the actual fighting the fire and the firefighters, it's the coordination that is going on. Because you have the federal government involved, the Forest Service. They think one way about how to fight a fire. The locals, the counties think maybe a different way. The state, maybe Cal Fire thinks another way. And to get all of those people together, the leaders, and to work it out -- and it is not sometimes easy, believe me -- but one thing we know, and that is that they are working together and it is extraordinary the kind of coordination that is going on here in California. As a matter of fact, it's unlike what you have seen with Katrina where nothing happened, where everything went wrong. Here everything goes right, even though there are struggles, even though there's difference of opinions, but it is really extraordinary to see everyone working together.

So I just want to thank everyone there again from the (inaudible) sides of the county, Cal Fire, law enforcement and fire officials, everyone working so well together. And I want to thank all of you.

So if there are any questions about any of that, please feel free to ask any of us. That's why we are here to give you an update on all of this stuff.

Yes, please.

QUESTION/ANSWER:

QUESTION:                         What type of resources did you hear that we needed (inaudible)?

GOVERNOR:                       Well, I think that I'm involved in managing all of those fires all over the state from day one. I get my briefings all the time, and especially since I'm very sensitive about fires, I always ask. So, you know, there's certain things governors ask. Everyone has their own priorities. For me it is do we have enough power. I always want to know how much power do we have and do we need any extra help in that area. Because when it gets hot sometimes, as you know, in the past we had blackouts. I don't want to have blackouts under my watch. And I think that's an important thing. I always want to know what is the update on the fires, do we have enough resources on those fires, enough manpower and all of those things. What else do we need?

And so this is why when last week I heard that we are spreading ourselves thin with our firefighters I immediately called General Wade from the National Guard and I said, you know, we've got to go -- we have 41 states that have been very generous besides the federal government to come in with extra resources, and they have given us fire engines, they've given us manpower and airplanes, helicopters and all of those kind of resources that we needed, but we need more manpower. And so we asked the National Guard to start training those 400 men and women so they can go out and relieve some of those firefighters and help them with fighting those fires.

So the key thing is to stay on top of it. And like I said, when you have a fire like this, this now has become our number one priority in the state. So we are fighting all those different fires. Like I said, we have been very successful in having 81 percent contained, but this is now our number one priority. We are throwing all the resources in there. And this is why when I just got the briefing, one of the most wonderful things that you can hear is when someone says, well, by tonight this fire is put out and we have contained fully this fire. Why is that important? Because that means as soon as it is contained, you can take all of those resources from that fire and put it now over here. So it was all good news for me today that there's various different fires that will be contained these next two days and then we can put all those resources in addition to what we have already here into this area.

Any other questions? Thank you very much all for being here today, and let's get -- you have one more question here, please.

QUESTION:                         (Inaudible)

GOVERNOR:                       The questions was: How much money does our Emergency Response Initiative raise. It is -- I think we started with $70 million and then it will go -- eventually it will go up, but it will give us the money for 101 additional fire engines, more manpower and 11 helicopters. And so there's all kinds of great resources.

And the reason why it is important -- and Ruben, if I left anything out of this list, let me know -- but why that is important is because I think, as Ruben always says to me, Governor, the first few hours are the most important ones when you fight a fire. He says later on sometimes it gets out of control, but we need the manpower, the additional manpower, we need the extra engines, we need the extra helicopters so we have the possibility and the ability to dump water as quickly as possible and put those fires out. So this is why we really want to have this passed, this Emergency Response Initiative. And there are some that will look at it and start debating over: Is this a fee? Are those taxes? Who cares. Let them call it whatever they want. If the Republicans want to call it taxes, let them call it taxes. If the Democrats want to call it a fee, let them call it a fee. I don't care what they call it. What is important is that we have additional revenues and additional money so that we can go and help our firefighters. That's what is important (applause).

Thank you very much.

>>:                                          Can I just add one thing, and that is regarding evacuations. We're getting a lot of inquiries about the evacuation situation. We have already evacuated about 1800 people in the area, and we have about 3400 that have been warned. There is a very, very good chance that we're going to have to do further evacuations. And it's very important that everyone in that warning area continue to prepare for evacuation on very short notice. We will get this information out to you quickly if and when the evacuation order is given, but we're basically talking about the area north of Cathedral Oaks from San Marcos Road all the way over to Highway 154.

Anyone that lives in that area should be prepared to evacuate if they have not already evacuated. And the people who have already been evacuated, I know they're very desirous of getting back to their homes, and we want to make sure they get back to their homes as soon as we can, but we can't do that safely now, and we don't want to put anybody back into the previously evacuated areas if we have to evacuate adjacent areas as well because of our resource situation.

So I can't emphasize enough how important that preparation is. Be prepared, recognize what it is that you're going to take and be prepared to move very quickly if that evacuation order comes in in that area.

And finally, I would just like to add law enforcement's voice of appreciation to the Governor for coming here to Santa Barbara today. This is -- it's a big morale booster for all the public safety workers who are here working on this fire and will be working on it for some time to come to see that he has come and made this a top priority. So we very much appreciate it. Thank you, Governor.