Cal Fire welcomes back seasonal staff as fire season begins

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Cal Fire brings back their seasonal firefighters during different times within the year, but February is when the first batch of people return.

During the winter months, the department is used to having only minimal staff on hand but the unique case of a dry start to the year is a cause for concern.

"We’re hiring extra firefighters on right now to staff up engines for possibly and early early fire season," said Cal Fire Captain Jared Koos. "Our operations is directly affected by what nature gives us and if we get dry months then we have to ramp things up and it only really takes about three weeks of dry weather to get a fire to carry here in the state of California.”

The department isn't at peak staffing as of now but they are consistently tracking the weather because that's what helps them dictate when and how many firefighters to bring back during their hiring periods.

There is an extremely high demand for firefighters but there are also certain regulations that Cal Fire is forced to follow when they bring on their seasonal staff. The most they are allowed to work is nine months, but once they have had their three-month time off they are typically hired back immediately.

"There are people where we have to lay them off and if we're forced to lay them off and that's the day we get the fire, it's an unfortunate situation," said Captain Koos. "If we could somehow make our firefighters permanent I think it would benefit the citizens of California."

Many of the seasonal firefighters this year have returned from previous seasons. Most of them that arrived this week have two to five seasons under their belts working with Cal Fire.

Seasonal firefighter Ryan Walters is entering his sixth fire season. He said that he enjoys the various facets the job comes with. "Although we specialize in wild and fire fighting. We need to also be ready and trained for medical and vehicle accidents, things of that sort. It's exciting, everything is new. Everyday is new," said Walters. "If you’re on duty when those fires start, chances are you’ll be there.”

With their first day back at training some of seasonal staff was already sent out to fight a fire in Boulder Creek. They were able to contain the fire to about an acre.

Cal Fire watches the weather for when they can officially declare fire season. "Looks like February is going to have no rain and if March is a bust for rain. We could see fire season declared sometime end of March or early April," said Captain Koos.

Koos also said that training and tech have gone up and improved over the past decades and having fire fighters stay seasonal is more of an old business model that needs to be updated.