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Calimesa fire chief defends rising wildland fire protection fees; cites aircraft, hand crews and shift from inmate labor
Summary
The fire chief told the council that Calimesa’s wildland fire protection agreement cost rose from about $119,000 in 2021 to $178,000 and that the increase reflects higher operational costs, expanded aircraft and paid hand crews; he said the agreement provides resources cities lack on their own.
Calimesa’s fire chief told the council the city’s wildland fire protection agreement provides critical resources—aircraft, additional engines, dozers and hand crews—and that the agreement’s cost has risen with statewide changes in staffing and firefighting logistics.
Staff showed the contract cost rising from about $119,000 in FY 2021 to roughly $178,000 in the most recent year. The chief explained the operational value tied to that fee: when the city is in the wildland‑urban interface it automatically gains access to rotary‑wing and fixed‑wing aircraft capable of retardant drops, additional engines, dozers and organized hand crews that the city cannot sustain on its own.
The chief said the composition of hand crews in California has changed: where state crews were previously formed largely from inmate labor, they are now full‑time, paid firefighters on state hand crews, which increases the cost of that resource. He also pointed to higher apparatus and equipment costs and more acreage burned in recent years as contributors to the fee increases. “We automatically receive things that we don't have logistically. Rotary wing helicopter aircraft, fixed wing aircraft that has retardant, capable deployments… We get rotary wing. We get fixed wing, we get the, the benefit of extra engines, chief officers, dozers, bulldozers to cut line, and hand crews,” he said.
Councilmembers and staff noted the agreement had paid dividends during local incidents—staff referenced the 2019 Sandalwood fire when mutual aid and aviation assets were critical. The chief said that under the city’s deployment decisions, the city will keep local resources for city missions while relying on the state to handle off‑city incidents where appropriate.
Staff warned the council that this agreement is one of several mandated or widely used regional cost centers for small cities in wildland‑urban interface zones; local governments have limited ability to control those external cost drivers. The budget presented includes the current wildland fire protection fee as an ongoing expense and staff anticipates continued pressure in coming years.
