Recent changes in firebase operations at the Santa Maria Public Airport have some local fire officials worried about the U.S. Forest Service’s ability to fight fires on the Central Coast.
Earlier this year, the Forest Service transferred two of the Santa Maria Air Attack Base’s full-time managerial employees to a nearby district office, and downgraded the base’s status from full-service to “call-when-needed.”
In an interview with the Sun, Andrew Madsen, public communications specialist for Los Padres National Forest, said the decision was made because of “cost considerations.”
“The only change that’s being made is that there are no full-time employees,” Madsen said.
Once the Santa Maria base is prepared for operation, he said, “there’s really nothing for [the employees] to do.” Forest Service officials, therefore, chose to move the employees to a Santa Maria-based office where they would be available for other projects.
The Forest Service insists the change in staffing won’t affect its ability to respond to fires in the Los Padres National Forest.
According to a contract between the Forest Service and Central Coast Jet Center—the Santa Maria Public Airport-based company that developed the tanker base—fuel and retardant must be ready for pumping within four hours of notification.
That contract, Madsen said, “has yet to be finalized but should be in place shortly.”
A group of local fire and airport officials, however, seems wary of the new parameters.
Several members of the Fire Chiefs Association of Santa Barbara County met with representatives of the Forest Service in April to discuss the change in staffing and new potential contract.
The Fire Chiefs Association was instrumental in moving the airport firebase from Santa Barbara to Santa Maria in 2007.
In a letter to U.S. Forest Service officials, the association wrote: “It is our collective opinion that the move from Santa Barbara to Santa Maria in 2007 has proven to be a very cost efficient operation for the taxpayer, and an overall sound operation for the Forest Service. Since 2007, service from the Santa Maria location has played a major role in providing effective initial air attack operations for fires on the Central Coast.”
The letter went on to say that members of the association were “surprised … that operations from the Santa Maria location were characterized as inefficient.”
Also in April, Central Coast Jet Center president and owner Jim Kunkle contacted government officials at the city, county, and federal level to express his concern over the changes to the Santa Maria firebase.
Based on parameters in the new contract, Kunkle said, tankers would have to travel “double the distance” for fuel and retardant to Cal Fire bases in Paso Robles and Lancaster. The new contract, he said, increases refueling and retardant turn-around time from three minutes to four hours.
“It’s dangerous,” Kunkle said. “To have [the Forest Service] reverse this would be very good for our surrounding community.”
Since 2007, the Santa Maria firebase has seen more than 1,700 flights and pumped approximately 2.5 million gallons of retardant, Kunkle said.
“That’s why the [Forest Service’s decision] was really confusing, because everybody said we were a ‘model base,’” Kunkle added.
Still, Forest Service representative Madsen said the decision “all comes down to availability of air resources.”
He said firebases managed by the Forest Service, like the one in Santa Maria, have access to about 20 planes that are used throughout the nation.
When the Santa Maria base is waiting for the national planes to fly in, it can call in help from the Cal Fire bases in Paso Robles and Lancaster.
“Those planes could be in the air immediately,” he said.
The flight time from Paso Robles to North County and Lancaster to South County is approximately 15 minutes.
This article appears in May 7-14, 2009.
