‘Fire Fee’ has Rural Californians Seeing Red

With California’s fire finances on the fritz, Governor Brown thinks he’s found the funds to prevent forest fires.  Since the Governor refuses to get serious about Caltrans’ fiscal and administrative mismanagement, he has decided to call in air support from a newly repacked Forestry and Fire Protection Board in the form of a new $150 fire tax on rural residents.  This move by the Governor and his Board fails to grasp that urban dwellers have just as much at stake in fire prevention as those who live in rural areas.  Equally concerning is the Governor won’t be calling in air support to fight actual fires.  Instead, the Governor seeks to spend the expected $10 million in revenue educating rural residents on the benefits of fire prevention, instead of investing in more fire engines, firefighters and tankers that actually fight fires.

Both rural and urban areas are entitled to fire protection services.  Would it be fair to impose a $150 public protection tax on urban dwellers since most crimes are committed in urban areas?  Of course not.  Rural residents benefit from public safety protection in urban areas, too.  Similarly, would it be fair to impose the entirety of this new fire protection tax on rural citizens, when urban citizens have just as much or more to lose if a fire isn’t contained?  Fires affect all Californians regardless of where you live.  We all have an interest in preventing and extinguishing them.

Although it is true that many fires start and are fought in rural areas, they will continue to grow, sow, and spread devastation all the way to metropolitan areas if they’re not contained and eliminated.  In 2003, the Cedar Fire, which began in rural San Diego County, eventually worked its way into Poway, El Cajon, Escondido, Rancho Penasquitos and the City of San Diego.  It destroyed 2,232 homes; in addition to the 588 other structures destroyed and caused over $200 million in damages in 8 days.  Additionally, cities and large metropolitan areas have more at stake if fires are not extinguished, as life and property loss will be more concentrated and severe.  Had it not been for Marine fire crews at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar who contained the fire, it could have devastated aircraft, buildings and the surrounding metropolitan buildup.

Most concerning of all is that revenues raised by the new tax will be directed toward education and prevention, not fire engines, air tankers and firefighters.  Although education is important, it is less valuable when considering each year within the United States there are 17,400 fires caused by lightning that need people, engines, and tankers to extinguish them.  Such misappropriation of funds illustrates what many already know: Sacramento wants to throw money at problems without fixing them.  Our State’s problem is ensuring that we are fully prepared to fight major wildfires and the Governor’s solution for this problem fails to produce real results that translate into increased fire protection.  As usual, Brown and his bureaucrats offer vague clichés and intangible answers which fail to extinguish fires.

The majority party consistently reminds us that we share collective responsibility for public safety.  Why should fire protection be the exception?  Fires are unpredictable and destructive; they don’t discriminate against where or what they burn.  Whether a home or business is located in a rural or urban area, a fire could burn it.  Since no area is completely immune from fires, all citizens should share in the responsibility for fire protection services.  However, Gov. Brown and his likeminded allies are determined to believe fires only affect those in rural areas and have enacted a new $150 tax on rural residents.  Moreover they’ve invested in the same overplayed sound bite that education equates to prevention, instead of investing in firefighting equipment.

My colleagues and I have coauthored Assembly Bill 1506, which would repeal the fire tax.  This repeal measure passed the Assembly Natural Resources Committee and is now pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.  Please help us pass Assembly Bill 1506 by sending a letter of support to: senator.anderson@sen.ca.gov.  Thank you.

Joel Anderson is a resident of Alpine and represents San Diego and Riverside counties in the State Senate.