California has state parks which usually border the National Forest. To protect them, the state has Cal Fire. Cal Fire structural protection is so good the USFS rely on them to save the structures within or near USFS land. This has worked in the past but last year Cal Fire just could not be everywhere. Separating federal from state land and federal from state fire responsibility is difficult.
For instance in 2017 sloppy maintenance by the electric companies (2) caused most of the fires. Some were in the state and some were in the federal forest. We are talking billions of dollars in damages and that does not count the timber value itself. The reason all of you should care about California's problem is that you paid for it and don't ever realize it. This was done using bankruptcy court and Gov. Gavin Newsom's slight of hand.
Fire originating from within the USFS is the responsibility of the USFS. They don't have the right to burn down your house and should be held liable. But this goes for the state and utility companies also. So when the utility companies burnt down a million acres of our federal land, the Governor quickly set up a state-sponsored fund so consumers would not sue the utility companies. Then he allowed, without opposition, their bankruptcy, a Chapter 11 not Chapter 9. In a Chapter 9, the utility companies would have had to sell everything, all assets, to cover claims. But Chapter 11 is a reorganization and the creditors just take a haircut. You are all familiar with Chapter 11, these are the serial bankruptcies the airlines use to scam taxpayers every few years. Bankruptcy is filed in Federal District Court. There, they can claim anything they want to claim. As one attorney told me, there is no such thing as a fraudulent bankruptcy. So the utility companies waltzed away from the damages they cause to federal and state lands. You all pick up the federal tab.
Now add to this the USFS. My middle daughter worked for the USFS for 15 years, she told me all this, and I didn't believe her. Almost all the budget for the USFS ends up as fire fighting expense. Fire is their industry. In the off season, firefighters get very much reduced pay. You would be amazed at how little the government pays them to risk their lives. But the USFS has to keep them happy. The answer is "controlled burns" and all the lies they tell about why they need to do them. They do them so firefighters can get fire fighting pay during the off season. The lies are so crazy stupid that my daughter summed it up with: "We have to burn the forest down in order to save it." Getting paid and getting money are the real goals of the USFS Fire. In those incident control centers the only heavy lifting which is down is on payday when management has to bend down and pick up those heavy paychecks.
This really means the USFS Fire is not interested in little fires. They need a fire to last over a month, preferably all season, so they and their employees can get that all important fire pay. They will let a little fire burn until it becomes a bigger one. They will depend on the county and Cal Fire to save their bacon when the fire impacts private property. They will tell you lies about how fire works and is fought. In many instances, those at the top calling the shots of how to actually position assets and fight the fire do not even come from that area--sometimes not even from that state. In the USFS, a supervisor who can fight a fire with minimum manpower and no airpower (water drops) is a hero, and becomes a legend. This is what they are all shooting for. In doing this no-hitter type game, they sacrifice your money, your forest and maybe your property. There is no downside for these people. If their leadership fails, they simply get on a plane and go home.
This is another story but burnt forests become deserts. Pioneer vegetation springs up which burns as fast as a fuse--a fuse leading to unburnt forest. Deserts reflect solar radiation, not absorbing it. This actually moves cloud patterns and the feedback enforces drying out of the land. Now a high percentage of the Sierra Nevada Mountains are desert and a fuse. This will go on costing YOU money until something changes. Throwing money at it, be it state or federal, will not change the basic attitude problems of the USFS. The USFS is not hiring forest people and this is one basic problem but that is another story.
