A building burned at a south Stockton fire station Saturday morning. About a minute after fire broke out inside, the building was a black and red ball. It was the start of a day's worth of lessons in firefighting aimed at influencing opinion-makers and decision-takers. The event, called Fire Ops 101, was sponsored by the firefighters' union, Stockton Professional Firefighters Local 456.
The United Professional Fire Fighters of Contra Costa County Local 1230 is deeply saddened to announce the death of one of its long time members in the line of duty. Captain John Nunes, who served more than three decades with the Contra Costa Fire Protection District died in the morning of March 31 from leukemia.
With the shadow of another difficult fire season looming over California, a silver lining may be shining our way, courtesy of the federal stimulus plan. California Professional Firefighters is aggressively moving to secure sizeable portions of the stimulus money for long-delayed priorities, including staffing and equipment.
Some 150 CPF local affiliate leaders brought the message from the front lines directly in the halls of the State Capitol this week, at CPF’s Daniel A. Terry Legislative Conference. The two-day conference brought lawmakers face-to-face with firefighters from their home districts, and put firefighters in touch with the key players in Sacramento.
There have already been twice as many wildland fires in the first three months of 2009 as there had been during the same period in 2008. And that's the good news. According to two reports -- one federal and one state -- California and the rest of the nation should brace for another bad fire year in 2009, and that, down the road, the state could see fire losses average $2 billion a year.