20040219-BRC-Meeting Transcript
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1 STATE OF CALIFORNIA 2 GOVERNOR’S BLUE RIBBON FIRE COMMISSION 3 4 5 BEFORE THE GOVERNOR’S BLUE ) RIBBON FIRE COMMISSION, ) TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 6 ) February 19, 2004 Senator William Campbell, Chair ) Costa Mesa, California 7 ) 8 9 CHAIR CAMPBELL: Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen, we'd like to begin this meeting this 10 morning by self-introductions of the members of the commission. We'll start down on our left with Mr. 11 Peter Verga, from the Department of Defense. Mr. Secretary? 12 MR. VERGA: Thank you very much. I'm the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for 13 Homeland Defense with the Department of Defense. 14 CHIEF COLEMAN: Ron Coleman, Fire Chief in Santa Rosa. 15 MR. SEDIVEC: Jeff Sedivic, President of the California State Firefighters Association. 16 MS. STEFFEN: Debbie Steffen, Director of Emergency Services for San Diego County, and I'm 17 sitting in for the Chair, Board of Supervisors, Greg Cox. 18 MS. BARNETT: I'm Karen Barnett, Deputy State Director for BLM in California, I'm sitting in 19 for Larry Hamilton, National Fire Director. 20 MR. WILLIAMS: Morning. Jerry Williams, National Director of Fire and Aviation Management, 21 U.S. Forest Service. 22 CHIEF MCCAMMON: Morning. Bill McCammon, Fire Chief Alameda County Fire Department 23 and President of California Fire Chiefs Association. 24 CHIEF FREEMAN: Michael Freeman, Fire Chief Los Angeles County Fire Department, 25 representing FIRESCOPE. 26 MR. BAMATTRE: Bill Bamattre, Fire Chief,City of Los Angeles, representingCalifornia 27 Metropolitan Fire Chiefs. 28 MR. HANSBERGER: Good morning. Dennis Hansberger, Chairman San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. Governor’s Blue Ribbon Fire Commission Page 1 of 118 February 19, 2004 1 MR. LASUER: Good morning, Jay LaSuer, member of the State Assembly, 77th District. 2 SENATOR SOTO: Good morning. I'm Nell Soto, 32nd Senate District. 3 MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: I'm Dennis Hollingsworth, in the State Senate representing portions of 4 San Diego and Riverside counties. 5 ASSEMBLYWOMAN KEHOE: Goodmorning. Chris Kehoe, Assembly Member from San 6 Diego representing coastal San Diego neighborhoods. 7 ASSEMBLYMAN DUTTON: Bob Dutton, member of the California State Assembly,rd 63 8 District, representing San Bernardino and Riverside counties. 9 CONGRESSMAN LEWIS: Jerry Lewis, member of Congress. 10 MR. HALEVA: Jerry Haleva, President(UNINTELLIGIBLE) , chief counsel's for the 11 commission. 12 MR. GERBER: Robert Gerber, I'm the executive secretary for the commission. 13 MS. DAVIS: Susan Davis, Congressional Member from the 53rd District, largely the city of San 14 Diego. 15 SENATOR ALPERT: Dede Alpert, State Senator, 39th District, San Diego. 16 MR. VENABLE: Jim Venable, member of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. 17 MR. GIBSON: I'm Dennis Gibson, representing Mayor Dick Murphy from the City of San Diego. 18 MS. TUTTLE: Andrea Tuttle, Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire 19 Protection. 20 CHIEF ZAGARIS: Jim Zagaris, Fire Chief, Governor's Office of Emergency Services. 21 CHIEF PITZER: Larry Pitzer, Fire Chief, City of San Bernardino, sitting in for Mayor Valles 22 today. 23 CHIEF BOWMAN: Jeff Bowman, Chief of the San Diego Fire Department. 24 CHIEF PRATHER: Chip Prather, Orange County Fire, representing the Emergency Counsel. 25 MS. TAHARA: Randi Tahara, representing L.A. County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke. 26 MR. FUKUTOMI: DavidFukutomi, Federal Coordinating Officer, representing Department of 27 Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 28 MR. CAINE: David Caine, representing Senator Brulte, 31st Senate District. Governor’s Blue Ribbon Fire Commission Page 2 of 118 February 19, 2004 1 MR. MCORMOND: Ed McOrmond, Pechanga Fire Chief, representing the Native American Fire 2 Chief Association. 3 CHAIR CAMPBELL: Thank you very much. We'd now like to have the pledge of the flag of this 4 great nation, lead by Assemblyman Bob Dutton. 5 [Pledge of Allegiance is recited.] 6 CHAIR CAMPBELL: I want to thank you all for being in attendance today. I want to say a couple 7 words about the young gentleman sitting to my lefthere. Congressman Lewis has done wonders for the 8 state of California and he came back from Washington, D.C. with a check for $115 million, which was, uh, 9 kinda nice. What? $150 million. Did I say $115? Well that means we have more coming! [Laughter.] 10 But, uh, and he also the one who put the $500 million in the(UNINTELLIGIBLE) appropriation bill, so 11 Jerry we appreciate all your effort and all your help assistance in that manner. 12 CONGRESSMAN LEWIS: It's all your money. 13 CHAIR CAMPBELL: I remember a great line by Governor Reagan, before he became President, 14 said, "Sending money to Washington and hoping to get all of it back is like giving yourself a blood 15 transfusion by taking a pint of blood our of your right arm and putting it in your left arm, only spilling half 16 of it on the way through." [Laughter.] We're still not even! But thank you for your efforts. 17 Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen, my nameis Senator Bill Campbell. I'm retired from the 18 California State Senate, and it's my privilege to serve as Chair of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Fire 19 Commission, and it has been my honor to serve with a distinguished group of fellow commission members. 20 Welcome to the 6th meeting of the Blue Ribbon Fire Commission, and it's series of hearings to review our 21 response to the series of destructive fires sweptthat through southern California last October and 22 November. This will be our final hearing for prepared testimony. Our last commission meeting will be on 23 March 18. We don't have a facility yet, but somewhere in the Los Angeles, hopefully near the LAX, where 24 we will develop final recommendations to include in our report to the Governor and the Legislator. The 25 agenda and process for that final meeting will be included in memorandum to each member to be received 26 the first week in March. In the past five hearings, we have heard presentations covering virtually every 27 aspect of our overall response to the disaster, as well ashose t actions that we taken, or should have been 28 taken, to reduce the loss of life and property toildland w fires. The commission has also heard many Governor’s Blue Ribbon Fire Commission Page 3 of 118 February 19, 2004 1 comments regarding obstacles that impede or bar the adoption or implementation of critical fire prevention 2 and public safety policies. The purpose of the commission is to determine how we can best mitigate the 3 ravages of wildland fires. We have the responsibilityto clearly state our findings, and to firmly identify 4 those actions that must be taken to not only improve our wildland firefighting capability, but to reduce the 5 threat of wildland fires. The success of our effort not only depends on the level of the state's firefighting 6 resources, and their capabilities, but on the commitmentof California's public policy makers to implement 7 the necessary changes at the various levels of governmental responsibility. 8 Today we will be hearing presentations on insurance issues relative to wildland fire threats and 9 hazards, revisiting the role of the rotaryaircraft technology in firefighting, and considering the potential of 10 building design codes and incentives for encouraging residents and communities to practice and implement 11 fire safety and prevention practices. We will also discuss the essential roles, scope and importance of 12 emergency medical services in wildland fire disasters, as well as the critical role of training to support 13 effective and safe firefighting skills. While California has one of the best trained, best equipped and most 14 experienced fire service communities in the world, and ongoing, constantlyupdated and comprehensive 15 training is absolutely critical to maintaining that high level. Unfortunately, training, drills and exercises are 16 one of the first areas the fire service must cut back when budget reductions are forced upon it. The lives of 17 our brave firefighters and those they protect depend upon quality and accessible training programs. I have 18 also allowed time for public comments following the formal presentations. I would encourage members of 19 the public to submit written testimony, if possible, andin consideration of their fellow citizens, to limit 20 their remarks to no more than five minutes. All submitted testimony will be part of our official record. 21 Please note that if you have testimony for the commission, please see at the end of the day Mr. Blair 22 Springer and present that information to him. Again, thank you for your attendance, and uh, does any 23 commission member wish to have an opening statement. If not, let's begin – oh, excuse. Mr. Gerber has 24 some housekeeping items. 25 MR. GERBER: Thank you, Senator. Couple things, just outside this room we have a stamp. If you 26 have valet parking or self-parking, if you'll take your ticket you can stamp it and receive a discount on your 27 parking. Also there's a coupon out there, if you plan to eat here in the hotel, there's a discount, also, a 28 coupon on the table. Also, I'd appreciate it if youould c put your cell phones andyour pagers on silent. Governor’s Blue Ribbon Fire Commission Page 4 of 118 February 19, 2004 1 Also, if you ask a question or make a statement, if you could up front, please identify yourself cause we are 2 taping the hearings and it helps with the transcripts. 3 At this time also, you'll notice that you have a video in front of you, and I'd like to ask Mr.