Gov. Schwarzenegger Coordinates State Firefighting Effort with Local and Federal Partners

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, good morning everybody. I was just here last week, getting a briefing here. And I thought that I would come back and the fire would be out, but that is not the case. I think that we have a very stubborn fire here.

But first of all, I want to say thank you very much to FEMA Administrator Paulison for being here today and also being part of this briefing and helping us so much. Also General Wade from the National Guard, we want to thank him very much for being here. And Chief Haines from CAL FIRE and Chief Gregory from CAL FIRE and also Chief Dietrich from the U.S. Forest Service and Henry Renteria from the Office of Emergency Services, thank you very much also for being here today and Nancy Ward from FEMA also, so we want to thank them all. And also we have Congressman Sam Farr here, who represents this district and we want to thank him also for coming here -- where is Sam? Okay, right here -- so thank you very much.

We just got a briefing and we want to thank both of the chiefs, all three of the chiefs, actually, for giving us a briefing here and bring us up to date of what's going on. And of course, as I said earlier, that the Basin Complex Fire is a stubborn fire and so far 52,430 acres have burned, 3 percent only is contained so far, 20 buildings have been destroyed and more than 1,400 structures are threatened.

Also, I have just heard that we began evacuation of Big Sur. Mandatory evacuations are in effect for the eastern side of Highway 1 and also recommended evacuations on the west side of Highway 1 -- and I think that the chiefs will give you more details on these evacuation plans. But we have so far 1,542 firefighters and personnel that are fighting out there and approximately 108 engines. Two firefighters have been injured so far and we hope that they will recover very quickly.

Statewide the numbers change, of course. As you know, we have 1,400 fires we've had in this last week. Some of them have been contained, but so far 440,000 acres have burned, 60 structures have been destroyed and 19,202 personnel are fighting those fires. We have 1,416 engines that are working on those fires and more than 100 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft also are out there helping with this effort. 85 percent of the fires have been contained on the statewide level.

We still have many fires to fight, obviously, but we are already working to help the victims rebuild their lives. Today I signed an executive order to boost the recovery efforts. We will waive replacement fees for birth certificates, driver's licenses and other critical documents and we are cutting red tape to speed up cleanup and debris removal and to repair environmental damages from the fire. And I've also asked the Franchise Tax Board and the State Board of Equalization to assist fire victims with filing tax extensions and to provide relief from late penalties and assessments.

Again, I want to say thank you to so many people here today that really coordinate so well and make all this really works well. I want to thank FEMA for their great effort and for being such a great partner. I want to thank also the Interior Secretary Kempthorne, who came out last week and visited one of the fires and really has helped us with the relationship between the state and the federal government, then the 40 other states that have come in and sent resources to our state to help us with our firefighting efforts.

I want to thank the local authorities, the firefighting officials and law enforcement, because when you do evacuations in fighting fires like that, coordination between law enforcement and fire officials is extremely important and I think that the local law enforcement officials have done an extraordinary job with that.

I also want to thank, of course, especially the heroic firefighters. I mean, I cannot praise them enough. We have the best-trained, the most experienced and the toughest firefighters in the world and we want to thank them, so let's give them a big hand for right now for the great work that they are doing. (Applause)

But of course, as I said, there were 1,400 fires. That is, I think, the most amount that anyone has ever heard of in this state at one given time. And also what we have seen is that -- you know, in the last two or three years we have seen there is really no fire season anymore. It used to be that late summer and through fall we had the fires, but now it's all year-round. And this is why it is extremely important that we create also more resources for our firefighters and for our efforts to put out those fires.

That's why it is very important, when we pass the budget this year, that part of it is that we approve an emergency response initiative, which I have proposed. Our modest assessment on commercial and residential property insurance will add extra firefighters, add extra fire trucks and extra helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft and so on. It will save lives and it will save property, so it's very important that the people of California get in touch with their legislators and say make sure that this is part of the budget, to approve our emergency response initiative.

So I want to say again thank you very much to all of you and now I would like to bring out our next speaker, which is going to be from FEMA, Administrator Paulison, who is going to bring us up to date on how the federal government is going to help us some more with our firefighting efforts. Thank you very much. (Applause)

ADMINISTRATOR PAULISON: Thank you, Governor. Well, here we're back again, like we were last year, except last year was in Southern California. And I have to make a comment about how what I see is one of the best state efforts this country has to offer. The cooperation among all the fire service personnel, from the state to federal government to local firefighters, has been remarkable because it does take a team to make this happen.

And Governor, I want to thank you for your leadership. California has a governor that really gets it, who really understands emergency management and he understands how this whole system works and leadership from the top is really important. And so Governor, thank you for your leadership and the system that you've put together to fight these fires.

I want to also comment again on what the Governor said about the firefighters. I spent 30 years in a fire service and I know these guys behind you here are putting their lives on the line. They've left their families and their homes, their jobs, oftentimes, to come here and help fight these fires. And guys, thank you very much, I appreciate what you do and I'd just ask you to take care of yourselves out there so you go home to your family. That's the most important thing. We want everyone to go home.

The federal government has stepped in with direct federal assistance for the state. The Governor asked for a declaration, we took it to the President and he signed it right away and that frees up a lot of money to help pay for a lot of these firefighting efforts. We can bring in extra firefighters, fire trucks, equipment, help set up base camps, bring in extra tankers from the Department of Defense to help fight these fires. So far, just in the short time that we've been involved, FEMA has allocated over $50 million that's being spent to help fight these fires across the state and there's more money behind that if we have to do that.

This is an important issue, because we're in this together. Nobody can do it alone. It has to be that the firefighting, the focus of a disaster is local, but all of us have to work together to make sure it happens. You're seeing a different FEMA than you saw just a few years ago, a FEMA that is much more proactive and it's not reactive anymore. So that's why we want to be here early, be on the ground working with you as partners to make sure it's a federal, a state and local effort to fight these fires. So, Governor, I'm committing again, like we did last year. We're here with you and we'll stand alongside of you with the other people in the great state of California until these fires are out. Thank you. (Applause)

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:   Thank you very much. I would like also to have Chief Gregory come up here and to just brief us a little bit on what's going on locally. Thank you.

CHIEF GREGORY: Well, thank you, Governor. As he was talking about, since the middle of June the state of California has had about 1,400 new fires that we've been tackling. And working together as multiple agencies, federal, state and local, to help put those out. We've made great gains on them.

Early on this spring we started seeing the fuel moistures getting very, very dry and as a result of that our Governor provided leadership to us by putting into effect an executive order that increased the staffing and the readiness of CAL FIRE to be able to bring extra forces on in preparation for this fire season that has a long ways yet to go on that.

But to me, a partnership is really important for the success of abating the fires out there and that partnership is between the homeowner and the firefighters. And it is more important than ever that the homeowners prepare their houses, make sure that they have good clearance, re-check their roofs, make sure that they don't have any flammable vegetation so that if they do have a fire in their area that the firefighters can easily defend their homes and save them from being burned down. Again, this incident here is a perfect example of the multi-agency, multi-faceted approach to firefighting in California that works. Thank you. (Applause)

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you very much. Chief Haines, if you want to come out and just say a few words also, please? Thank you very much.

CHIEF HAINES: Thank you, Governor. I want to address this to the firefighters out in the audience. This area of the coast is dangerous. There are five recorded wildland firefighter fatalities within sight of this incident base from 1939 until just last year, five firefighters have died on fires in this area. So I want you to go home safely -- and think about that when you go on shift. Thank you, Governor.

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you very much. Thank you. And I have one more, Chief Dietrich. Please, if you want to come out and just say a few words?

CHIEF DIETRICH: As I said, this is a very treacherous fire; a very difficult, very stubborn -- cranky is a good way to describe it. We're doing everything that we can. We've got all the resources deployed; we're in unified command with Chief Pinney from the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade. The relationship has been excellent. We're prepared to go into unified command with other entities as it becomes necessary. The local fire brigade here, as a result of a FEMA grant, fire assistance grant, also received a 200,00 dollars grant for a water tender to help them in their preparedness, so it's part of this while multi-agency, overall faceted thing that we're dealing with here.

With that, there's no end in sight, there is no finish line. And if this were a marathon, we're at mile plus two right now and we've got a long ways to go until the end of the fire season and to the end of this fire. But ultimately we will prevail. Thank you. (Applause)

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: And our Director of the Office of Emergency Services Henry Renteria, please.

DIRECTOR RENTERIA: Thank you, Governor. And again, thank you, Governor, for your leadership, because you're the one that makes this all happen and guides all these agencies. I also want to point out the importance -- I know we have some new evacuations happening today. Our first concern is to put this fire out. That's our main topic for today and for the next few days.

But there are people who are going to be impacted by this and I just want to reassure all the people who are being evacuated, we're working hand in hand with the Red Cross and other community-based organizations. We're going to meet the needs of those people, we're going to communicate out to them about where they need to go, what they need to do and we'll try to set up some communication system so that we can let people know what services are provided.

But again, our first concern is put the fire out and we'll be helping people as they're evacuated. So thank you again and thank you to FEMA for your rapid response to this issue, because we've still got a long road to go. Thank you. (Applause)

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you very much, thank you. And we do want to thank also Red Cross for their great efforts that they are making and helping us here. And we also want to thank the volunteers, which are very, very important in all of this. And each one of the fires the volunteers came in big time and we appreciate that very much. And if there are any questions about any of this, please feel free to ask. Yes?

QUESTIONS/ANSWERS:

QUESTION:                                                   Governor, in Gilroy we talked about your emergency response initiative and at that time you correctly predicted that there would be opposition and legislators who would be calling it a tax, as Senator Don Perata has just done. What is your response to those critics who say this is a tax and should not be a part of the budget?

GOVERNOR:                                                 Well, first of all, I think it's very important, when you save lives and you save property and you see fires like that and you want to really supply and provide the firefighters with the resources, you're not that worried about what Sacramento is talking about when they talk about is it is a fee or is it a tax, is it this or is it that. That's all irrelevant.

What is relevant is that we need to increase the homeowners insurance fees by a little bit -- we're talking about $6 to $12 a year -- in order to help to raise almost $100 million for resources so we can get the extra 131 engines, the fixed-wing aircraft and the manpower. Because like I said, today we don't have any more fire season. There are fires all year-round and they're big.

And we see now these 1,400 fires at one given time that break out and we need to be able to spread around the manpower and the firefighters and trucks and helicopters and all of those things. We need the resources. So it's nonsense dialogue when the talk about those kind of things, what's the definition of something, rather than thinking about the big picture, which is let's help the firefighters and let's help ourselves by helping the firefighters.

GOVERNOR:                                                  Yes?

QUESTION:                                                   Governor, a lot of the areas that are affected here are the Carmel/Monterey, get a lot of tourism business, especially as we're coming into this July 4th weekend. Are you concerned about the impact, not just of this fire, but of all the fires around the state and is there anything the state can do to help with that issue?

GOVERNOR:                                                 I think the most important thing for us right now -- and you have heard it over and over again from our fire chiefs and from everyone -- that the important thing is that we put out the fires. So that is the number one, most important thing.

Then number two is -- I think you can also say number one -- is to protect the people, because public safety is the most important thing and that's why I think they went ahead with mandatory evacuations today. And I think it's important to know that everyone feels for these people that have to be evacuated, because these are people that live in the woods and they have lived there for a long time and they say, look, I'm not worried about any of this. I have seen it before and I have fought for my house and all these things.

So it's tough to move out of your home, we understand that, but do it. Listen to our authorities and the people that know better, because what happens is when you stay in your home and you don't listen, firefighters get spread even thinner, because they now have to help and rescue those people from their homes rather than fighting the fires. So I think that we've got to think about all this. We cannot think selfishly here and I'm going to stay in my house and I'm boss and all those things. It doesn't work. You know, just listen to the authorities and just move out and we will have shelters available and Red Cross and all of those things. They're very well organized here, I have to say.

QUESTION:                                                   What about the economics and tourism?

GOVERNOR:                                                 Economic impact -- we have to protect, of course, businesses and make sure that the people know it's safe to come here; it is okay to come here. I mean, business goes on as usual. But we're going to continue fighting those fires. And we hope that we have some good progress by the July 4th weekend, but right now the important thing is to put out the fires and protect the people and their homes.

GOVERNOR:                                                  Yes?

QUESTION:                                                   Governor, clearly you've gotten a lot of praise for the coordinated effort and all of the agencies working together. You made a decision to tap into the National Guard. Can you explain why only 200 National Guards people?

GOVERNOR:                                                 Well, I think that General Wade is here from the National Guard, he can explain to you. But we have, so you know, there are hundreds of National Guard troops out there already. So those are people that will be specifically trained for firefighting and for those kind of things, by CAL FIRE. So it's an additional 200 that we have announced and so that they -- you know, the National Guard has given us their helicopters and all kinds of resources and they have been very, very helpful. But he can talk a little bit more about that effort.

GENERAL WADE:                                        Thank you, Governor. Understand that the National Guard brings their unique capabilities to any situation. This is no different. Don't forget for one minute, as Administrator Paulison has said, this really is a national effort, because we have assets from National Guard units from Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Mississippi, North Carolina, Wyoming and even have United States Air Force Reserve from Colorado here. We do what they ask us to do, flying helicopters, driving trucks, providing every type of support. And in this case they asked for some support in a non-standard mission and that was actually training up firefighters and they asked for 200 and that is exactly what we're training now.

We've also provided bulldozers that we have retrofitted so that they meet CAL FIRE standards to help them cut the fire lines. We have eight of those right now that are going to the fire lines as well. We provide also emergency communications, have two of our Strategic Communications Units that are within the state of California that they're utilizing. So as CAL FIRE requires the need that's beyond their own capability through the mutual aid, they will come to the National Guard and the National Guard is more than happy to provide that, as we always do.

QUESTION:                                                   (Inaudible) along the Mexican border and also in Iraq, hamper your ability to provide more equipment and people?

GENERAL WADE:                                        Yeah, that's an excellent question. And I think it's important for everybody to realize in addition to our Title Ten responsibilities and deployments around the globe, our continued counter-drug operations on the border and throughout California, our support to youth programs and all those things we do on a daily basis, running our Army posts and our Air Guard bases, we do all that and we still respond when the Governor asks us to. We're very proud of what our National Guard does, because we're always ready and we're always there. Thank you for asking.

GOVERNOR:                                                 Anyway, I just want to add one more thing and that is that this has been so huge, these fires, dealing with 1,400 fires, that we wouldn't be able to do it without the help of so many. And this is why I think it's important to recognize, as the general just did, with having 40 states of the United States -- 40 states come in and send us resources and help. And also I have to say that, unlike a Katrina type of situation where it was not as well coordinated and it was disastrous, here you see the utmost coordination. It's extraordinary cooperation.

And no fight between the different agencies, which normally happens, but this is not the case here. The locals have been extraordinary working with the state and the state working with the federal government and everyone working together. And like I said, the fire officials with law enforcement officials and everyone has been absolutely a jewel. And the way the volunteers have come in and Red Cross has come in and FEMA and everyone has come in, it's really amazing. I'm very proud of everybody.

So thank you very much. Yeah, there's one more question here.

QUESTION:                                                   Since I have the last question, this is for Mr. Paulison. Are you going to ask the President that he issue a disaster declaration, which is different from the one that you have right now? I know that the Governor had requested this also last week.

ADMINISTRATOR PAULISON:                  Right. What we've given the state so far is what we call Direct Federal Assistance. That means we're paying for a lot of the firefighting activities, a lot of the equipment to come in, Department of Defense assets, firefighters from other countries -- I mean, other states -- to come in and assist. So we're paying for all of those types of things, setting up base camps. What we'll do next, is we will do preliminary damage assessments with the state and then based on the amount of damage that we see, that will determine if a further declaration is necessary.

GOVERNOR:                                                 Thank you very much, all of you, for being here today. And let's continue working and helping everyone to fight those fires. Thank you.