Placer County considers fire cuts
By Richard Chang, Sacramento Bee
Despite drought conditions that have elevated wildfire risks this year, Placer County officials are considering whether to shutter one rural fire station and eliminate several positions to save money as it faces higher state firefighting costs.
Placer County contracts with the CalFire to staff its engines and stations in a vast fire protection area that spans from the Sacramento County line to Emigrant Gap in the Sierra Nevada. Other parts of the county are governed separately by independent fire districts and municipal agencies.
The 66 CalFire firefighters that serve Placer County are projected to cost $8.89 million in the current fiscal year. CalFire has raised its rate by 21 percent to $10.74 million for the fiscal year that starts July 1, a hike Placer officials have criticized as “unsustainable.”