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CAL FIRE begins phased implementation of 66-hour work week; plan calls for multi-year hiring and training
Summary
CAL FIRE officials told the Assembly subcommittee they began implementing a negotiated 66-hour work week and presented a five-year plan that front-loads engineer hires, expands training capacity and aims to rebalance engineer-to-captain ratios; full implementation will require significant ongoing budget and staffing increases.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Northern Region Chief George Morris III described the department27s plan to implement a 66-hour work week negotiated in the 2022 memorandum of understanding with Bargaining Unit 8 and ratified in 2024.
"The plan was designed to be phased in over 5 years," Morris told the subcommittee, explaining the plan addresses a longstanding imbalance between engineers and captains and the department27s legacy staffing model. He said engineers serve as the feeder rank for captains and that CAL FIRE must "front load engineers in the first several years" so those employees can finish apprenticeship requirements before captain slots are filled.
Morris said the new staffing paradigm moves many engines from an older model (one company officer plus two firefighters) to a traditional municipal style crew (captain, engineer, firefighter) and that shifting the engineer count is essential to sustain the 66-hour schedule safely. He also described investments in training capacity, including a temporary additional training site at the former Castle Air Force Base in Merced County, and said personnel are being hired now to support the planned academies.
A department spokesman and staff briefed members that, at full implementation, the plan represents a large expansion of ongoing costs: earlier materials distributed to the committee estimate roughly $770 million annually and approximately 2,500 additional positions when the plan is fully phased in. The administration said year-one implementation is progressing as planned and emphasized that the structure is intended to reduce reliance on one-time "staffing enhancement" requests and to produce co-benefits, including improved safety, expanded unit-level training, and more stable base staffing.
Members asked about year-round staffing proposals that surfaced in the hearing27s broader discussion. The administration said it will analyze year-round options and that costs depend on the model chosen; a rough figure discussed in committee documents and statements placed potential year-round costs in the range of tens to a few hundred million dollars annually on top of the 66-hour plan, with additional years required to hire and train staff.
Ending: CAL FIRE staff said the department is implementing year-one actions now and will return to the Legislature with further detail on training throughput and hiring progress as the plan moves toward full implementation later in the five-year timeline.
