Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have joined forces in a fight against California’s wildfire problem.
Newsom and Schwarzenegger visited McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento Thursday to announce new equipment for Cal Fire, including new airplanes, helicopters, infrared cameras and drones. This additional gear will help avoid the resource shortages that California experienced during the last fire season.
“We had 361 requests that we could not meet, 361 requests for air support that we could not meet because we didn’t have the tools, we didn’t have the technology, we didn’t have the equipment,” Newsom said.
Newsome announced that Cal Fire will hire nearly 400 more seasonal firefighters and receive 13 new engines.
With wildfire season in full swing Contra Costa County’s fire chief said two-thirds of the county is in a fire hazard zone. In a recent report he said that crews in the county responded to an average of two fires per day during last year’s fire season and that virtually all were caused by people, either intentionally or unintentionally.
He also said that people need to consider PG&E’s planned power shutoffs during this year’s fire season.
