49 Fire commander talks response times
Crews expected to remain on scene through the weekend
At the height of the 49 Fire, the number of trucks that responded was in the double digits and personnel numbers reached the hundreds. On Wednesday, Incident Commander Jeff Brand gave a breakdown of firefighters’ response to the blaze that burned 343 acres in North Auburn and destroyed 63 homes and three commercial buildings. Brand said he was dispatched to the fire at 2:22 p.m. and arrived at 2:28 p.m. on scene at Highway 49 and Rock Creek Road in North Auburn. “I was the first one there and after I got there maybe a minute later one engine arrived from Atwood Station and a couple minutes after that four engines arrived,” Brand said. The four engines included two from the Higgins area and two from the Auburn Cal Fire Bowman station. “When I arrived there, about four minutes later homes were already burning,” Brand said. The initial attack Within the first hour, Brand said he ordered about 50 engines, 10 air tankers, “one very large air tanker” – a 747 airplane, four helicopters, four hand crews, four bull dozers, five ambulances and multiple additional command officers. Brand said the orders were staggered. For example, about 10 engines would be ordered at a time and then more as the fire grew. He said response times varied based on the distance fire crews had to travel. “The key to a fire like this is early recognition of potential and ordering resources quickly,” Brand said. “That was done and therefore we were able to stop the fire spread by 6 p.m. and contained at 343 acres.” At the fire’s peak, around 6 p.m. when fire crews stopped forward progress, there were 90 engines, 13 hand crews, 18 bulldozers, 15 water tenders, 10 air tankers, six helicopters and about 700 personnel total on scene, Brand said. Weather conditions Brand said weather was “a huge factor” in the 49 Fire’s path. He said at 3:10 p.m., the Auburn Airport recorded a 90-degree temperature, 13 percent relative humidity and winds were 14 mph out of the south southwest gusting at 22 mph. Who was called? Brand said multiple agencies were dispatched to the 49 Fire including ones from the Bay Area and others from Humboldt and Mendocino counties. Brand also credited quick coordination with Placer County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol to quick evacuate residents. Multiple local agencies were also called to respond including engines and crews from Auburn City, Penryn, Newcastle and Grass Valley fire departments. Auburn Chief Mark D’Ambrogi confirmed that his department sent a water tender, two engines and a duty officer “pretty close to the time (the fire) started.” According to South Placer Fire Chief Tony Carado, who is the operation area coordinator for Placer County, one of two available strike teams was ordered from Placer County. Another strike team was called from Nevada County. “They got lots of resources there in a hurry I know that,” Carado said. Brand said it is not his decision as to which strike teams are ordered and is up to the dispatch center, which calls out teams and engines based on proximity and the need of the incident commander. There are two dispatch centers in the area – the Placer County Sheriff’s dispatch and the CDF dispatch center in Grass Valley. “You can’t vacate every fire station,” Brand said. “You need to leave some forces behind in case of a medical emergency and what not.” He added that he requested the “closet forces obviously because of the rapid growth of the fire.” Corado said engines from his department were called to fill in for Newcastle and Penryn departments as they assisted with the 49 Fire. A jumpy fire Brand said the fire was “jumping ahead of itself up to a quarter mile” on Sunday. “Firefighters would be in one area then it would jump,” Brand said. “I can understand the civilians’ frustration but based on it jumping a quarter of a mile ahead of itself, that was causing the perception that there were no fire engines.” Brand added that there would be a gap in time to reposition firefighters as more forces came into the area. How were homes saved? In the aftermath of the 49 Fire, some homes were torched to the ground while the home nextdoor – barely a few feet away – looked untouched. Brand said the reason why some homes were spared and others were not could be a matter of defensible space or engine companies putting out the fire before it reached nextdoor. While Brand said he doesn’t want to diminish the loss of the 63 homes and three buildings, he said at least 200 to 300 homes were saved as a result of firefighters’ efforts. “The excellent work by the firefighters and the early order of significant resources to get them in here (helped save homes),” Brand said. “It could’ve been a lot worse if we didn’t get the fast response.” The aftermath Firefighters will remain on scene throughout the weekend patrolling for hot spots, Brand said. The fire was contained at 6 p.m. Tuesday, which means there is no potential for it to grow in size, Brand explained. He said crews could possibly be out at burned areas into next week. As of Wednesday, an incident commander, three engines and miscellaneous fire department personnel were staying near the scene of the fire. Suppression cost Brand said the current suppression cost of the 49 Fire is $1.2 million. That number is expected to increase and does not include damage costs, which were not available as of Wednesday, Brand said. Jenifer Gee can be reached at jeniferg@goldcountrymedia.com.
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According to South Placer Fire Chief Tony Carado, who is the operation area coordinator for Placer County, one of two available strike teams was ordered from Placer County. Another strike team was called from Nevada County.
Wait a minute 2 strike teams available and only one requested or responded?
Cheif Brand requested the “closet forces obviously because of the rapid growth of the fire.”
Obviously they didn't dispatch all available closest resources or they would have sent both of those strike teams.
Stump, I know Brand personally. You want no one else in command of an incident like this. He reminds me of the sergeant in Black Hawk Down. Calm under fire but making good, smart, command decisions. Get up out of your Monday mornig quarteback chair and volunteer to help fire victims instead of just critizing.
The 49 Fire again proves Placer County has a flawed 911 fire dispatch system, created by county fire officials who continue to place politics ahead of providing the best level of service. The problem, there are 5 different dispatch centers doing fire dispatch in the county, when their should only be one. This created the slow tangled web that failed to get many available in-county mutual-aid fire resources dispatched, and created needless delays in dispatching those in-county mutual aid fire resources that were dispatched to the 49 Fire. The 2003-2004 grand jury investigated the county’s flawed fire dispatch system. Placer’s fire officials failed to provide requested information to the grand jury during their investigation. The grand jury ordered that Placer County adopt a system similar to that of Sacramento, Nevada, and Western El Dorado Counties have, by consolidating fire dispatch services into a single center, and by establishing “boundary drop” and county-wide “cover” plans. If Placer County had a dispatch system like Sacramento and Western El Dorado Counties have the response to a fire like the 49 Fire would have been much superior, with better coordination, more fire engines at scene quicker, while still maintaining county-wide coverage in case a new incident should occur.
Harley, I have volunteered and donated clothes to the Salvation Army for fire victims. And secondly, it is my right to be critical of our services. I have said in the past that I support police and fire funding. I guess in some peoples opinion they would rather ignore this whole mess and let it go away but that isn't going to help anyone. I understand we need to have fire engines to take care of other emergencies but when you have fire engines are available for both ,And houses are burning ,they should be used. Don't be offended because my beef is not with the firemen it is with the higher ups.
Thanks for the donations and I agree with you about your right to have an opinion, but the management ran this operation by the numbers. On that subject you are wrong.
SmokeeZbear: How is one fire dispatch center going to help this situation? That dispatch center would have to cover the County as a whole and every city and fire district within the county. That is a big barrel of apples to look after at one time all the time. All or various Fire Departments have radio communications with each other so in a sense they are one big Department already. I guess I just do not get your point.
"Stopping forward progress" in a fire like this under the conditions such as this... I'd say the incident commander did a terrific job. We can not control all things at all times. It is unfortunate that people had to loose homes and cars, but at least we can say; all lives were saved! Good job firemen and to all who are helping.
By-the-way; Did I hear that the Red Cross is refusing to help some of the survivors just because "they make too much money"? Reminds me of the stories my father used to tell... That upon returning to the states during World War II, the Salvation Army was there giving them donuts and coffee FREE, while the Red Cross was charging them money for their coffee and donuts. Also The Salvation Army had Officers overseas taking care of the wounded. That is where my money is going... The Salvation Army...
A request for emergency strike team from el dorado county was also made. I know that el dorado county responded as soon as the request for support was made. Fire personel from other areas of el dorado were then moved to cover the coloma/cool areas. My heart goes out to all the victims affected by this fire.
To answer chase2you having one dispatch center is better than five. Best way to explain, there was an request by the incident commander for the next 10 closest engines to be dispatched. With Sacramento and Western El Dorado Counties, with dispatch under one roof, they would just dispatch the next 10 closest available engines, then send engines to cover behind these ten engines. In Placer County, with five different dispatch centers, to send the next 10 closest engines is impossible. Cal Fire would dispatch Auburn City, and a couple of county engines, then call the sheriff so they can dispatch Placer Hills, Penryn, Newcastle, South Placer, then Cal Fire would then have to call Rocklin so they can dispatch an engine, except for Cal Fire/County Fire there is no system to cover behind these engines. What happened Cal Fire called the sheriff, which handles all western in-county mutual aid request (Cal Fire fills these request in the mutual aid computer system, which the sheriff should have done), which picked five engine from various departments, in a prearranged agreement, that are not necessarily the closest, to send to this fire. The sheriff also has to call the dispatch center for the engines is does not dispatch to get them going. Did not get the ten closest engines, slow getting additional engines dispatched, nor did all available engines get dispatched.
I certainly appreciate the anger and frustration those who lost property are experiencing. But I can't let this column and it's comments go without adding my 2 cents. I watched the entire fire and the fire fight from my front porch, which is about 1,200 feet from the start of the fire. I have over 100 photos I took of the fire-fight and I have absolutely no doubt that both the response time and the effort to fight the fire was outstanding. My daughter and her family were evacuated from Christian Valley. They arrived at my home in Auburn at around 6PM. Between the time they called and said they were coming and their arrival, the fire appeared to have been knocked down and it's forward progress halted. In my calculations thats about 3.5 hours to successfully fight such a raging and damaging wild fire. I recenlty drove past the fire area on Dry Creek Road. I am amazed and impressed that the fire crews were able to stop it at Dry Creek Road. Had that not happened, the destruction would have been 10-fold. It's very easy to sit back and arm-chair-quarterback this fire, but don't lose sight of the realities, that while there was a significant loss of property, had the fire crews who were on site in Auburn not agressively pursued the fire, the destruction would have been far greater.
JustaMan- I agree that the response was about as it could have been under the circumstances. My parents lost their home on Sunday and although devastating, they are safe. With this fire moving so fast and hot combined with it jumping to different spots, we are all lucky that we are not discussing 200-300 homes and who knows how many lives lost. Stopping the forward advance before it got to Saddleback and Christian Valley was qiute a feat. Most of the homes that burned were ashes within 3-4 minutes. That is what happens in a fire storm, defenseable space or not. My wife, who is a retired fire investigator estimated that the fire was burning at 4000+ degrees at my parents site. In that instance.
As far as the Red Cross goes, we have had a very positive experience so far. They were very helpful and the days after when we were let back in, they came by a few times an hour with food, drinks and support. My parents are lucky, their insurancs company has been on top of things since Monday. They already have their demo permits and a contractor and Dad is meeting with the architect today. It looks like they will be set to start rebuildig as soon as cleared by the county.
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! The fire departments in Placer County have been delt with funding issues for years. I think that the community needs to take a strong look at what services they have and what they would like to see in the near feuture. The Fire Districts and City Departments in Placer County are doing all they can with the little funding they have. There is a "Placer County Operational Area Mutual Aid & Strike Team Mobilization Plan" that the Placer County Fire Chiefs all signed. Was it recognized by Cal Fire and utilized the day of the fire? Don't assume that the elected officials distribute funds for public safety in your best interest. Hold them accountable! In order to meet current and future needs for fire department levels of service, staffing and budgets need to be addressed. Board of Supervisors and Council Members please take responsibility for Fire Protection for the people you serve!
My house was saved by the firefighters. 3 houses behind me, and 1 house in front of me were burned to the foundation. The firemen who stayed to save my house, said the ONLY REASON that my house was still standing, was I had Sierra Pest kill my grass before they started back in March. The firemen said they were able to stay and defend my house, because they had a place to defend themselves from the fire. Best $350 I ever spent. You can visibly see the fire burn the tall grass around my yard, and burn straight to my neighbor. My house didn't go unscathed...but it's liveable. So thank you to the firemen who stayed to defend my house.
I'm pretty sure this is Obama's fault. It was a plot to injure rich white people. Just like Bush did in New Orleans to the black population.
Dear smokeezbear, The Placer County 911 system is a professional Dispatch center not a failed system. Your complaint to the Grand Jury many years ago led them to interview many of the Counties departments. You wish all departments to be dispatched by one agency. I actually agree with this as do most if not all the County Fire Chiefs. The problem is three fold. The main reason Placer Hills chose the Sheriff's 911 system was for response times. This system answers all 911 calls and immediatly sends Placer Hills units out. Many minutes could be added if 911 needed to transfer your emergency call to another agency. (our current average response time is 6-7 minutes). Adding further minutes is not an option to myself or the public I'm sworn to protect. Another reason is cost. The Sheriff dispatches us for free. Other agencies have to charge for this service and we do not have the $45,000 it would cost. Fiunally, getting the entire County (cities, local government and Cal Fire)to agree to such a huge effort is difficult especially in these tough fiscal times. (these talks do continue however).I was not on duty during the 49er fire. I do know the Chiefs and Dispatchers who were. They are all highly trained and competant individuals who did the best they could to protect the public. I also know, as I helped write them with the other County Chiefs, that Placer County does indeed have a closest resource and boundary drop agreement with all Fire agencies.
These agreements are designed so the closest Fire Engines get sent to the incident. Smokee, please feel free to come over to my office. I'll show you these documents and will gladly take you to Auburn for a tour of Dispatch.Perhaps doing so will give you a clearer picture of the systems in place and possibly change your opinions. Sincerely, Ian Gow, Fire Chief, Placer Hills Fire.(meadow Vista, Weimar and Applegate).
A number of deputy sheriffs are going to be in North Auburn on Friday at 8:00 am, off duty, providing assistance to anyone who needs help sifting through the ashes and looking for lost belongings. They plan on having volunteers on site through the weekend. If anyone needs any help, or if you know of anyone, call Rick at (530)368-0690 or Pat at (530)308-0776.
Its sad that you have Ian Gow defending a failed system, a man who was less than honest to the 2003-2004 grand jury. If an IC orders the next 10 closest engines to a fire in Sacramento and Western El Dorado Counties they get dispatched, not so in Placer County.
In 2007 two Contra Costa County Fire District firefighters were killed. A lack of a consolidated dispatch system between Contra Costa County Fire and Richmond City Fire, which led to the failure to dispatch a Richmond City fire engine, located near the fire, as an contributor to these firefighter deaths.
Chief Ian Gow lied again! Placer County pays for all fire dispatch services in the unicorporated area of Placer County regardless if it is Cal FIre or the Sheriff's Office. It would still be free for the Placer Hills Fire District to be dispatched by Cal Fire
The ten closest engines where not quickily dispatched.
Please feel free to look me up and call me a liar to my face. Many of the local Chiefs sat before the Grand Jury and explained the situation to them.Cal Fire can not provide free dispatch for my agency like Placer county does. Call any of their Chiefs and ask them .We have a well coordinated system between Cal Fire, Placer dispatch and the cities. Your anger is being pointed at the wrong people.
Placer County OES pays for all fire dispatch in the unincorporated area regardless if dispatched by the sheriff or Cal Fire, again you are wong there. The grand jury said info requested in their investigation was not provided, and your response in essence that a consolidated dispatch you would have dispatchers one for Cal Fire and one dispatching Placer Hill's at different ends in the same room so it would not matter if they are in the room or different counties, that response is bogus. It wasn't the case prior to 1997 when Cal Fire dispatched your district nor is it the case in Nevada or El Dorado Counties with consolidated fire dispatch, i.e its intergrated. Anyone who looks at the Placer County fire dispatch system and compares it to Western El Dorado or Sacrmento Counties knows Placer County has a failed dispatch system that you and fellow Chiefs are having a poor time of defending it.
I have respect for Chief Gow, however I must say. Placer Dispatch DROPPED the ball sunday... and Chief Corado- Area Mutual Area Coordinator also dropped the ball. Area resources were NOT dispatched or deployed as should have been. A standard of coverage response plan needs to be put in place, especially now after seeing the lack of response to the 49er fire. South Placer Fire DID NOT send a engine to 49er fire, however South Placer has 5 staffed stations... Roseville Fire has 8 staffed stations and send only 1 grass unit. Foresthill Fire has 3 stations and did not send a engine. Rocklin Fire has 3 staffed stations and send 1 grass unit as well as Lincoln Fire.
But Loomis, Newcastle, Penryn have 1 station each and send their only staffed engines to the 49er fire. Auburn City has 1 station, but send 1 engine, 1 water tender and battalion chief. Placer Hills has 3 stations, send 1 engine, 1- Asst Chief. note: South Placer did send a engine to penryn to cover loomis, penryn newcastle from penryn station. Standard of Coverage Plan would most likely show that Roseville could send 2-3 additional engines, South Placer: 1-2 engines, Roclklin additional 1, Lincoln-1, Foresthill 1-2, Colfax City-1, Dutch Flat-1, Alta-1, that Could have been 12 additional engines in the first 30 minutes of the fire... Changes are needed in Placer County
I will also say, I have huge respect for Erik- Placer County Dispatch Center Manager, but better policies and procedures are needed.
The Command Center dispatch concept is the best... having Chief Officers and Captains at the dispatch center makes a huge difference.
but Placer Dispatch, Rocklin, Roseville, Lincoln are all law enforcement dispatchers assigned to fire service dispatch duties, they don't understand the fire service side of the communications world.... Placer County Fire Agencies NEED fire dedicated dispatchers !!!
Placer oes WILL NOT pay for dispatch by cal Fire. Call them and ask. 886 5300. (I have asked both them and cal Fire).Paying that amount of money is not an option for us. Smokee, re read my previous post when i said i agree with the concept. My only issue was and is that whomever dispatches me needs to be the 911 answering point so we get dispatched as fast as possible without having to tranfer the call. The ideal scenario would be to have cal fire and placer in the same room so we get the benefit of both. There is no way now to make it happen. These discussions have been ongoing and without meaningfull progress. I was not on duty during the fire so am not sure exactly what happened. I can only imagine the initial chaos and the huge effort taken by everyone to resolve it. If there were items that could be handled better we should look at them. However please recognise the effort the Chiefs have made to make the system work as well as it does.(communication plan, closest resource and boundry drop agreements and the strike team manual for in and out of county assignments.) All designed to get the closest there the quickest.
I just read that Rocklin/Lincoln are merging dispatch centers by November, there is one step... but Rocklin Fire is reducing staffing at their "new" station to 2 personnel and getting a 100ft tiller fire truck soon with reduced staffing.... Meaning: Funding is a BIG issue in Placer County....
A independent review of dispatch/response procedures to the 49er fire needs to happen.. Not to place blame but to be better prepared for the next major incident in Placer County....which WILL happen..... I think the City of Auburn did the right thing by having Cal Fire Dispatch fire/ems.
I think a Fire Communications Center for ALL city/district agencies in Placer County (west slope) excluding CAL FIRE would be a good start.
If you talk to Roseville or Rocklin Fire Personnel, they complain about the their dispatch center(s)... Law/Fire Centers first priority is to law disaptch... fire service has always been and always will be 2nd in the the dispatch chain. Another possible solution would be to have AMR dispatch fire/ems in Placer County.... Whatever happens I HOPE that the Placer Fire Chief's have a good honest meaningful discussion at their September meeting next week....
Fire watcher, I have read several posts that suggest that Auburn City Engines were not dispatched. This sounds like a witch hunt to me. The facts that I see and hear are that CalFire was in charge if this incident thus they were using their dispatch. Show me some proof that placer county dispatch dropped the ball.
The area the fire was in is protected by Placer County Fire/ CALFIRE. Cal Fire has the Placer County contract awarded by the Board of Supervisors. That contract includes the old Placer Consolidated Fire Protection District area. Placer County Fire/Cal Fire is dispatched by Grass Valley ECC not Placer Dispatch. The incident was run through Grass Valley. All resources were ordered through Grass Valley at the request of the incident commander.
Stumpbranch- Read the proof- Chief Brand requested 10 strike teams-closest resource..... Cal Fire-Grass Valley started CAL FIRE units and City of Auburn, as well as Nevada Couty resources which the Comand Center in Grass Valley dispatches ALL fire agencies in Nevada County. CAL FIRE placed a request for closest resource engines to Placer County Diispatch. Yes- Placer Dispatch did send resources BUT more could have been sent.... versus waiting for Sacramanento County, El Dorado County and CAL FIRE units from Napa and Humbolt to arrived.... If a standard of coverage plan with draw-down was used Placer County Dispatch could have given Chief Brand aprrox 10-12 additional engines within the first 30 minutes of incident.... So..... YES Placer Dispatch and the Area Mutual Aid Plan combined DROPPED THE BALL !!!! as for Auburn City.... they responded immediately a engine, water tender and battalion chief.....
I agree with you about sending all available resources but In the article they say "According to South Placer Fire Chief Tony Carado, who is the operation area coordinator for Placer County, one of two available strike teams was ordered from Placer County." I guess they did not want the other one.
Placer County did have one already out in Southern California.
The delay to transfer a 911 to Cal Fire was eliminated as part of Cal Fire taking over Placer Consolidated was required and installed at Cal Fire expense to connect the sheriff and Cal Fire's computer system so when Placer Sheriff gets a 911 and enters it in the computer the fire EMS call it is already in the computer for Cal Fire to dispatch.
Smokeez? It sounds to me like both dispatch centers do talk to each other. Maybe it wasn't requested correctly by who ever was in charge. But wasn't CalFire in charge?
firewatcher don't trust everythink you hear in the news paper. Unless you have solid proof that show those fire engines were dispatched don't waste my time.
What a surprise! An emergency plan did not work 100% They never do! The corrections and improvements to the reaction to the 49er Fire will still not be 100% when the next emergency come along. Something always fall through the crack. Instead of trying to find out "who" screwed up, the professionals need to review the written procedures and see which ones worked and which one's did not work. From a laypersons point of view it looks like your are all arguing that my idea for dispatch is better than yours. If more resources could be sent, could they have been used in the small area of the fire. How many fire fighters and how much equipment could be safely used in the fire area? What if the fire was caused by arson and more fires might be set in other areas?
Chief Gow, I am not sure that Smokee's issue is with the 911 system as much as it is with you, and some of the decisions made by our local fire Chiefs. You will never win an argument with someone who spews vitriol and hides behind a moniker. I think someone is bitter about that fact that our whole area is not "Consolidated". Living in an area fairly close to the start of the fire, I am grateful to everyone who fought this fire and helped to evacuate citizens. AND, I was happy to get an evacuation call, necessary or not. People forget that firefighters literally risk their lives doing their jobs, and I wish I could see more positive comments. Must be discouraging to work your fanny off and then have to defend yourself in a public forum against a hidden adversary. Anyway, "It's all good". See you at Extended Hours ;)
Smokee-Be a man, sign your name so that Chief Gow can contact you for a reasonable conversation. This is not the best way to debate an issue.
JonGreen I agree with you that no plan is perfect. I believe that the reason there is frustration is that some will have you believe that everything that could have been done was done. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this was not the case. If you read my earlier post about Cheif Carado and what he said in the journal you would realize that something went wrong in the system. It would be irresponsible for us as citizens and the powers that be to sweep things like this under the rug. That is the frustration. I have faith in our fire cheifs that they can all pull together, drop the ego, and fix the problem. I'm sure there is good reason why Cheif Gow chooses to use his dispatch over CalFire. (911 Direct connectivity being one reason) As I said before, I have heard from some of my retired fire friends, there is an ego thing that is happenning here between different fire departments and that sounds very dangerous to me when your talking about peoples homes and livelihood.
As a local Emergency Services Official, please allow me to moderate a bit here. It is devastating that 63 homes were lost in this fire; but let’s celebrate that no one died, and that many homes were saved. It is easy to Monday morning quarterback a fire like this, but it is important for all of us (citizens, fire and politicians) to take a look at what can be improved so that we are better prepared for the next time that this will happen. Here are some facts that will help to clarify some of the issues raised: The incident was located in an area of Auburn that receives its fire protection from CDF/Cal Fire through a contract with Placer County since the dissolution of the Placer Consolidated Fire District. Cal fire is dispatched exclusively by their Dispatch Center in Grass Valley. The only role that the Placer County 911 dispatch center played in this incident was to transfer the 911 calls to the Cal Fire Dispatch Center; and to organize Placer County (local government) Strike Teams to fill requests. They did so; but only one local strike team was requested by the Cal Fire dispatch center and though other local Placer County fire agency strike teams were available, they were unable to respond because they had not been “requested” by the Cal Fire dispatch center – responsible for managing the resources for the incident. This creates frustration among fire personnel that are ready willing and able to respond. *** See Next Post ***
(Continued)-Politics do unfortunately play a role in Placer County’s fire protection. Many, if not all of the Fire Districts and City’s have implemented the closest resource agreement (also known as a boundary drop), ensuring that the closest fire engine gets dispatched to the call regardless of jurisdiction, the state (Cal Fire) has not. This works to create frustration among fire personnel when they know that they can help or arrive sooner for the citizen in need. There has always been division between the Cal Fire Dispatch Center and the Placer County 9-1-1 Dispatch Center. The very nexus of Placer County Fire Protection’s political problem is the barrier that stands between state resources (Cal Fire) and all of the other Fire agencies in Placer County. Every firefighter did their best with what they had on this fire. Everyone wishes that they could have done more. We must move forward, but not loose sight of what happened here before the next significant emergency incident in Placer County. Improvement can be made at multiple levels. Better communications between dispatch agencies, better cooperation between all fire service organizations, and better funding to meet the funding needs of our emergency service providers. The bottom line is that our emergency services need to be better prepared and equipped to confront emergencies in Placer County. Making that happen is a complex matter, involving funding, plans, relationships and the community.
Thank you very much for you clerification and for legitimizing sthis hopefully ongoing debate. From you knowledge of the facts you appear to be someone of authority. I ask you to please get together with other placer county officials and come up with a solution because now is the time to get the support of the public like myself.
As a community, let us appreciate the fire fighting efforts, but still require improved efforts between local agencies and Cal Fire. We cannot accept homes/business burning while local fire crews sit in their stations only minutes away waiting to be called. Those Sacramento Cal Fire crews should have filled in BEHIND the local departments.
I would just like to thank the individual/s from the City of Auburn Fire Department who took the initiative to respond to this fire despite the ego issues that prevented them from immediately being dispatched. Time of of the essence, and it is refreshing to hear that firefighters remember their duty to the people of the foothills despite despatch and ego issues like these. Thanks Auburn Fire!
SmokeeZBear, please, next time a fire occurs, go jump in it. Your tired attacks of issues that have obviously confused you to the point of ceaseless, senseless, rambling rants are tiresome and old. I personally know Ian Gow and he knows what he is talking about. He's dedicated a great deal of his time trying to better the system. And although the system is not perfect (what system is?) there is constant effort put into it to make it better. And not just by Ian Gow. I have worked around and for him for years. Also, as an ex officer, ex firefighter for a local Fire district, I know for a fact that every time we were dispatched to an emergency by Cal-Fire, we had to pay. If we were dispatched for trainings, we had to pay. So please, do everyone a favor a go take a Geritol because just like your posts, they are for something old.
Obviously you cannot argue against the truth.
Placer County Peer Court Defendants used to help local fire departments clear brush for elderly and disabled folks. Not happening any more.
Jon-Give it a rest.
Not until we raise 200k
firewatcher, reading all these posts leaves me convinced you are not correct. For one, anonymous attacks carry little weight. I don't believe Placer dispatch dropped the ball at all!
Realist- The facts are there, the dispatch tapes for Placer and Cal Fire are public documents, listen for yourself. Better yet,, purchase a scanner and just listen some north wind event day... Listen to the quality of fire dispatches from Placer, Rocklin, Roseville.
Have them handle a vehicle pursuit or crime in progress, there is no better than Placer Dispatch, but fire incidents are NOT there bread and butter...... they are law enforcement dispatchers with little training in fire dispatching........ I stand by my posts....
Here is a question for the coffee table....... If Placer Consolidated Fire had not gone to the "dark" side (joining Cal Fire)... Would the 49er fire operations been better or worse? Could have Placer Dispatch handled that incident as "primary' communications center ? Since the 49er fire was in the LRA. Placer Fire Chief's need to have a honest discussion with Sheriff Bonner on the future of Placer 911 Dispatch Center owned/operated by Placer County Sheriiff's Dept. Another issue where the "ball was dropped" - Station Coverage in the lower Placer.... Loomis, Penryn, Newcastle, were at the 49er fire- 3 engines gone, and replaced with 1 south placer engine sitting at the penryn station.... Loomis citizens "taxed" themselves for better fire protection, but loomis station sat empty for several hours. Why did Placer Dispatch not move Roseville or Rocklin to Loomis ?
I must say, this article has produced good discussion and passion from several people. I just hope the discussion is carried on to the meetings at Placer Fire Chief's, Placer County OES, Placer Sheriiff Commumunications, and the Post Incident Analysis of the 49er Fire.. and the Placer Board of Supervisors realize funding is needed for a better upgraded 911 system and personnel... Dedicated Fire Dispatchers..
Maybe some of you "know-it-alls" can volunteer to be on a citizen oversight committee.... Jon Green, Realist, Smokez...
Gow just wrote a letter to Peer Court to see if we could continue to provide defendants to help clear brush. Of course we don't exist anymore so we can't. In 1966 in Sonoma County this same multiple fire department issue was causing the same problems. Of course consolidation was a bad word. I don't know if Sonoma County ever fixed their problem. None of the chiefs or boards wanted to give up anything. How many fire departments operate in Placer County. Why don't we just have one?
lots of tough people behind the computers. Id love to see them get together and do some real work helping make the Countys fire protection better instead of tearing it down, but that will likley not happen.