Transcript:
KPBS Reporter, Rebecca Tolin: Senator, can you tell us after listening to all of this: What can we do, what should we do from here?

Feinstein: Well, I think the big issue is lessons learned.  What went right and what went wrong and how to prepare for the future.  It’s a big learning experience.  On one level, the federal government has shown willingness to put in hundreds of millions of dollars into fire mitigation, to remove dead, down, dying trees, brush, etc.  The military assest—there’s one remaining part and that’s a member of understanding with the Marines, which would free up six Marine helicopters, which would be able to be used in the future.  That will get done.  I think we need more spotters on planes.  In other words, the non-forest service planes that fly—military, civilian—have to have a manager aboard and there’s good reason for it, I won’t go into it here but we need more.  There are 39 state-wide about 10 of the 39 were not available.  So I think improvement there. 

I think—We met yesterday with agriculture, some of the programs the federal government has do not work where the land value is high, especially crops, high value crops.  So we need to work with agriculture and Mark Grey (Director of Environmental Affairs, Building Industry Association of Southern California) has agreed to do it, to see if we can’t make some administrative adjustment in those programs so that local farmers hurt by these fires can receive some help. 

The big one, I think, is encouraging both the city and the county to provide more firefighting services.  There’s no other way to say it but that the city and the county are undermanned and under-equipped with respect to fire services and so the leaders here are really going to have to get out in front and find a way to create a fire department for the county and to increase fire services.

And then the final thing is, has to do with one of my pieces of legislation is creating a model planning code for this kind of fire and then creating incentives for communities to pass these new ordinances and that’s legislation I’m working on and we’ll see if we can get it right and get it done.

Reporter: On that note, why is it so important to restrict development in these high fire-prone areas? 

Feinstein: Oh!  Because the climate is getting warmer, the drought is prolonged, water is becoming more and more precious, and fires are becoming bigger and more catastrophic, and if you keep building new subdivisions in fire-prone areas, what happens?  Particularly, if you build them without firefighting services out there, and that’s what’s happening in this county.  It’s happening up and down the state.  Five million homes have been built in patterns of catastrophic wildfire.

Reporter: Is it a failure on the State level, do you think?  That they have not been able to foresee—they realize the patterns, multiple homes burned in the Cedar—

Feinstein: It’s hard to do anything about it.  It is the most controversial area.  You know, zoning, which is the tool you use, is a very powerful tool.  It’s all local government.  So a planning department and a board of supervisors can pass, rezone areas to prevent new subdivisions from going into areas that are fire-prone.  They are reluctant to do it and I think they’ve got to now become come to grips.  “Does it make sense to continue to build in these areas?” First of all, identify them.  Second of all, sit down and discuss whether it makes sense to pass legislation.  And then third of all, have the courage to do it where necessary.

Reporter: So what are you specifically proposing in the Fire Safe Communities Act in terms of limiting the development?

Feinstein: Well, what we’re proposing is that sort of final step, but what we’re proposing is incentives and grants to communities who would adopt these ordinances once we have a model, a national model with respect to building codes, double-paning, a clearance around homes as well as recommendations for zoning, that’s the tough part.

Reporter: What type of incentives?

Feinstein: Money.  In other words, increasing the federal match for firefighting from 75% to 90% if you have one of these and grants to cities to carry out the ordinance.

Reporter: What’s the most disappointing thing that you’ve heard today?  I know Chief [Jeff] Bowman (former San Diego Fire Chief, 2002-2006) pointed out—unfortunately we lost him several years ago because there weren’t the resources and today there still aren’t the resources.  Do you feel like people just aren’t being realistic, being honest, and therefore we can’t solve the problems with the resources aspect?

Feinstein: Well, you can solve the problems.  Every other county does, in the state, and every other city does, in the state.  It is a big commitment of dollars.  In the time I was mayor, about one-half of my entire budget went for police and fire.  Because we had to bring them up to snuff, and you know, in San Francisco we have 462 people to every firefighter.  Here, you know, you have well over a thousand people and the reach of a fire station is so great, they can’t deliver the response and they don’t have the equipment to deliver the response.  So people down here have to get involved and they have to stand up and they have to recognize—I’ll tell you another story.  When I was mayor I used to go out and say, “Do you want more firefighters?” And everybody would go, “Yes!”  “Do you want more police officers?” “Yes!”  “Do you want to pay for them?” “No!” And that’s the dilemma, but they have to be paid for and it’s a local responsibility.  So you have to find a way, and I kind of subtly suggested a way, which is using the General Obligation Bond to fund much of the capital improvements of firehouses—this is kind of a no-brainer—and fire equipment, the way you do a big bus buy or anything else, and then funding the man-power aspect of it through your regular budget.

Reporter: In Rancho Bernardo, a number of wealthy homeowners and their insurance companies actually paid, had firefighters to come in and stay in their homes while neighbors who relied upon county firefighters services lost theirs.  Could you comment on this trend—

Feinstein: I know nothing about that.  Well, see, I think that’s a terrible mistake, to have to go private.  I mean, I think this county needs to build a fire department.  You’ve got huge county landmasses.  You’re building subdivisions in these county landmasses and public services should be provided and that’s, you know, sheriff services for law enforcement and it is firefighting services.  Those are the two most important services for the county.