Governor Receives Briefing on Shasta Complex Fires and Firefighting Efforts Statewide

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: Good morning, everybody. First of all let me just say thank you very much to Chief Walters and everyone for giving me -- also Henry Renteria for giving me the update now and the briefing. I want to also thank Secretary Karen Baker for being here today and Sheriff Bosenko for his continuous support on these fires. And Assemblyman La Malfa, I want to thank him also for being here.

And I think it's great to be back. Last time I said I'll be back and I'm back again. I just wanted to come and just get an update. And also I know that you have been facing very unusual challenges up here with the fires because of the weather conditions and the dry heat and the winds and all of those different challenges that we have had.

I also wanted to come up here to say personally thank you to the firefighters who have done an extraordinary job up here. And we wanted to let them know how much we appreciate the work that they are doing and that we know that they have been working around the clock, that many of them have been working 24 hours straight without any sleep, sometimes even more than that. They are tired, they are exhausted from all the firefighting, but they are the best and the best trained, best equipped and most talented and most experienced firefighters in the world, without any doubt. So we want to just let them know thank you for the great work that they are doing. And that's why I wanted to serve them the food here today because I wanted to let them know that they have been serving us by putting out those fires; it was about time that we serve them. And that's what this was all about.

But again we also want to let them know that they are not by themselves, that we are with them 100 percent and we will give the resources they need. And I've been pushing continuously with the resources, also with the federal government.

But let me just give you an update right now what's going on here in the Shasta Complex fires. We have 57,779 acres that have burned; 45 percent has been contained; 10 structures have been destroyed so far; 1,200 structures are threatened. And 34 firefighters have been injured and we wish them a quick recovery and we hope that they are okay. There are 1,599 firefighter personnel altogether that is out there fighting these fires. We have 197 fire trucks out there. And so I think with that coordination -- and of course like I said, I'm here to find out if they need more resources. If they do, we will get them more resources as quickly as possible.

Now, statewide let me just give you an update also quick here. We have so far 702,300 acres that have burned statewide. Now that's much more than last year's fires that we have had. We have 190 structures that were destroyed; 19,706 personnel are working on those fires, fighting those fires; 1,589 fire trucks are out there fighting those fires; and 81 percent of those fires statewide have been contained.

Again, the firefighters statewide have been doing an extraordinary job even though there are big challenges, like in Butte County just yesterday and two nights ago we have heard that fires have flared up again because of wind and we had to evacuate very quickly 10,000 people there. But again they are getting that fire under control.

We want to thank people that have been responsible to coordinate all this so well. I think that the work from the federal government has been very good and 40 other states have been helping us with sending resources and manpower. We want to thank them for their great generosity.

I think we want to thank also the local authorities and especially law enforcement. Law enforcement has been doing an extraordinary job because when you evacuate, as you know, it's very difficult to do that as firefighters. Firefighters fight fires, but they need law enforcement to help them with the evacuation and also to keep the homes safe after they have been evacuated. Law enforcement has done a great job with coordinating with the fire officials and we want to thank them for that.

We want to thank also the California volunteers. And of course we have Secretary Baker out here to make sure that we have enough volunteers for our evacuation center so that people have been taken care of.

We also want to thank Canada and Mexico. I mean, here are other countries, neighboring countries that are offering us resources and manpower to come in here and we of course told them that we would take them up on it because we need the extra manpower and the resources.

The problem that we have of course is that this is going to go on, this fire. I mean, the fire season is going to last for the next few months. This is only the beginning. So this is why we need more federal help. There is no two ways about that. So I wrote already a letter to President Bush on June 2^nd to let them know that we need the resources, that we know this fire season is coming and it's here to stay.

So yesterday I sent the President another letter and we asked for military personnel to join the firefighting effort. We asked for more federal firefighters. We asked for 1,000 so they can come out here and help us fight the fires. But specifically they are meant to train the National Guard. Because since now that there will be more fires going on, we want to train additional guards. We have 400 so far that have been trained for firefighting and to assist the firefighters, but we want to make sure that we have an additional 1,000 to 2,000 trained to be ready for future fires. So we need the federal firefighters to come out and train them. We need of course also more resources. We have asked for 116 engines and we have asked for 41 additional helicopters.

I have called yesterday Secretary Chertoff and have asked also Senator Boxer and Senator Feinstein. I've talked to both of them also to ask them all for help because I think the more we work together on those things the quicker we are going to get those resources. And of course both of the senators have assured me that they are going to fight out there today and make sure they put the pressure on them so we get the resources. And Secretary Chertoff has been very, very helpful and we want to thank him, also, for his great help and make sure that we get also the extra resources.

Let me talk a little bit just about the weather. I think that this week we have also seen record-breaking temperatures and on Monday I activated our state's contingency plan for heat emergencies so that the state and local agencies all work together in order to keep our people safe. In fact, we have people -- as a matter of fact, there are people from the California volunteers that are checking on seniors and on vulnerable citizens up and down the state in different places to make sure that they are okay. Especially also to check on the cooling centers. The National Weather Service has also issued excessive heat warnings. What that means is there will be high temperatures and that is very dangerous, obviously, especially for the people that are outdoors that are working outdoors. We have just lost last week another farm worker that died working on a farm. And we want to make sure that we always let the people know, take care of yourself, especially the construction workers, farm workers and people that are working outside and watch each other.

There are a few recommendations that I have for the people of California. I urge all Californians to take proper health care precautions and to drink plenty of water. Save electricity. I think conservation is extremely important right now because we have always a lack of electricity, so it's important so we don't have any blackouts that we conserve energy and put our thermostats at 78. Please check on your neighbors and people who work outdoors, like I say. Be careful and get enough rest period, water, get plenty of water and also shade if it is available. Find local cooling centers. I think the cooling centers are very important. We have opened up cooling centers up and down the state of California. If there are any questions about how to find those cooling centers, get in touch with and visit my Office of Emergency Services on the web at www.oes.ca.gov. So you can find the information there.

So with that I want to say again thank you very much everyone for working so hard and I would like to have now Fire Chief Walters come out and just say a few words, bring us up and then Henry Renteria come out and give us some information, please.

CHIEF WALTERS: Thank you, Governor and we certainly support your help clear back to when you signed the executive order for us earlier in May. That gave us enough firefighters -- I say enough firefighters -- more firefighters to help out with the lightning strikes, as many as 1800 -- getting close to 1800 fires since that siege hit. Not all of those were lightning fires.

What we haven't talked about so much is the nearly 1500 that we did put out and that was a tremendous help. And a lot of our firefighters at that time when the lightning hit were in training. So they're out on the lines now and they're relieving some of the firefighters that have been out there in this extreme heat. And we're rotating them out, getting them some rest and we're very concerned about their health because this is going to be a real long summer. This is something we have never seen before at this time of year and we know that as a long haul measure we need to get them a lot of rest. So anyhow, I'll turn it over to Mr. Renteria.

MR. RENTERIA: Thank you, Chief, thank you, Governor. Again I just want to emphasize what the Governor's already said about the firefighters and they're our heroes and they're the ones that are making sure that this fire is going to be put out. But I also want to remember -- to have everybody remember that we also have victims of these fires. We have people who have lost homes and property. We have businesses that have been impacted. And so we are also working tirelessly with our federal counterparts to make sure we identify all federal programs, all state programs that can be available to any of these victims.

As soon as these fires get more under control we will continue to open up local assistance centers, places where people can go and apply for whatever assistance they need. We strongly encourage people to maintain contact with us and make sure that they are put on those types of rosters so that we can follow up with them later.

So again, once these fires are out it's going to be a long road to recovery that's going to take several months, maybe years and we will be looking for every available resource to make sure we take care of our citizens and their properties. Thank you.

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you very much. I also would like to have Sheriff Bosenko come out and say a few words because like I said, law enforcement has been a very important partner in this and they've done an extraordinary job. Please.

SHERIFF BOSENKO: Thank you, Governor. Thank you very much. My staff has been working closely with CAL FIRE since the beginning of these fires that started here in Shasta County. They've been working 24 hours a day doing the evacuations, working very close with CAL FIRE on making these notifications and when to do these evacuations and when to allow people back in as soon as possible when it's safe. When our staff comes through, or you receive a phone call, it's very important for people to take that advisement very seriously and either be prepared to evacuate or to evacuate at that time for their safety. It makes the firefighters' jobs very difficult when people don't evacuate and then they have to go and quit fighting the fire to go into a life-saving mode for people that have refused to leave their residence.

And I want to thank the California Highway Patrol, our Department of Public Works and CAL FIRE that have been working hand in hand with us to assist us in these evacuations. Thank you.

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENGGER: Thank you very much. And now I would like to have Assemblyman La Malfa come out and say a few words, please.

ASSEMBLYMAN LAMALFA: Thank you, sir. Well good morning. We're seeing some signs that we're really starting to turn the corner on this with containment levels raising at the various fires around the North State. And I know everybody's ready for it because our firefighters have been working very hard and putting a lot of hours in. And just from the air quality standpoint, you know, people up and down the North State really, really want to see it over with. So I'm really pleased to see the coordinated effort by everybody with the Governor's office, with CAL FIRE, working with the federal government to make this happen well. I think you couldn't do a whole lot better than what we have going on right now. It's just up to the amount of time it's going to take to get the ring around the fire and get them put out. And so we're really pleased with the comprehensive and coordinated response that we've seen. People are being taken care of. They have places to go for the cooling centers and for their shelters and evacuation purposes, so it's been pretty darn smooth with what we have to deal with here. So I really commend the Governor's office and CAL FIRE and all the jurisdictions that have come up to help the North State pitch in and get this done.

Going forward from here, once we have this over with we have a lot of people that need to be helped. Legislation that we're moving right now to be sure they get that help with tax relief and getting their homes rebuilt and their property going again. Then even longer term, we have to take a different look at how we're going to manage these forest lands and these wildlands so that -- you know, we're not going to prevent lightning. But we can certainly minimize its effects by having the ability to access the lands and minimize the effect of wildfires. So that's something we need to be really working on harder as we go forward so that we don't have the difficulty to access the fires. That's something that I've been very dedicated to and I know we've worked to accomplish some of those goals. So I'm really pleased that we can all work together and make this happen.

So again, thank you all for your great efforts here, it's great to work with you. Thank you so much, Governor, for your attention to the North State, the fifth trip up here in about two weeks to address these issues. So I really appreciate that. Thank you, sir.

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you, Doug. Thank you. And last, but not the least, I think I want to have Secretary Karen Baker come up here because volunteers are very important and when people get evacuated I think they need people to help them and those centers and so I think Karen can talk a little bit about that. Please.

SECRETARY BAKER: Sure. Thank you so much, Governor. Well as the Governor always says, government cannot do it alone. We are really going to need to rely on volunteers and many of us have been out there relying on our neighbors. I want to just thank everyone for all that they're doing to help their neighbor. And we are interested always in securing additional volunteers, so please go to californiavolunteers.org and you'll be able to click on the specific county that you live in and we're you're able to assist. We could really use additional hands at this time. The American Red Cross has set up a shelter here in Shasta County at the Shasta Learning Center. There's about 25 families there at this time. I want to also let you know Butte County is expanding its shelters at this point in time. We have several hundred volunteers working in those shelters. We have over a thousand volunteers on hand ready to get to work. So feel free to please join our crew and go to the website and be a part of folks that are out there helping out. Thank you.

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you, Karen. Thank you. Any questions about any of this? Thank you very much all for being here today, we really appreciate it and who knows? I'll be back. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you all. Yes?

QUESTION/ANSWER

QUESTION:              Why have you been out here so many times in the last couple weeks?

GOVERNOR:            Well actually I have been traveling all over the state, up and down the state. Like I said, I want to visit all the fires. I wanted to get a briefing on each one of the fires from the local Chiefs and also get always a briefing. Chief Walters is coming with me all the time and he gives me an update every day. Grijalva, you know, from CAL FIRE is giving me a briefing every day.

So I think this is very important. I am a Governor that does not believe that the action is in Sacramento and sitting around in an office. That is not going to do anyone any good. I do my work in the office and I stay late at night like yesterday again so I can do those fire visits during the mornings. But I think that you need to see of what's going on so that you can go right back and then create the action, call the Senators, call Secretary Chertoff and write the letters to the President and really get everyone rallied up. Because the way we fight those fires is if everyone works together. And I think that the world has seen how we handle emergencies in California. And they've seen how well we handle it because we coordinate well between the state, the locals and the federal government and how well that the fire officials and law enforcement officials work together, unlike the kind of things that we've seen with Katrina where everything fell apart. Here, I don't want that to happen. That's why I'm out there, get firsthand information and we all work together. Thank you very much. Yes, one more.

QUESTION:              We had the helicopters that (inaudible) the fire, but what can we expect when it moves to its ground in Shasta (inaudible) County?

GOVERNOR:            Well I think that the important thing is that we those resources as quickly as possible from the federal government. And not just about, you know, helping with this fire, but, you know, I tried to tell everyone already since February. I said look, the fires have started in February. They don't start anymore, end of the summer, beginning of the fall. So we have an all-year-round fire season and we got to come to the realization that that means we need extra resources. We need extra resources from the federal government, we need extra resources on our own here from the state and this is why I have my Emergency Response Initiative as part of the budget, to make sure that we get the extra $140 million so that we can go and buy the extra fire trucks, the engines and helicopters, fixed wing aircrafts, more manpower and all of those things.

Let us be ready for those things. It's like Doug La Malfa just said very well. You know, preparation and being cautious and making sure that we understand that there's new challenges there. I think we have to adopt those new challenges and that is my responsibility that I move that along.

QUESTION:              (Inaudible.) The troops that are being trained right now (inaudible), are they going to come to Shasta County any time soon?

GOVERNOR:            Yes, if they are needed. I think that Chief Walters can answer that question better than I do, but the important thing is we are training -- we have trained now 400 National Guards and they have been very effective in relieving some of the firefighters that are exhausted and tired and didn't get enough rest lately. And now we want to go and be able to call up another 1,000 or 2,000 National Guards, train them, have them ready for when there's another fire breaking out that we can put them into action right away rather than then having to train them. So that's the idea and for that we need federal firefighters to come out here to train them because I don't want to pull our firefighters from the frontline where they're fighting the fires to train them. Because we need every person out there fighting the fires.

Okay? Thanks very much. Thank you.