CA-OES-Team Blaze

Cal OES and @CalGuard have partnered to create the nation’s first firefighting Strike Team! Team Blaze will receive 5 Type VI engines to help build on the state’s capacity to fight wildfires and respond to any emergency statewide.

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CMD-1 through CMD-5 won’t cause confusion at all. :grin:

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Pretty sure the state has had strike teams since they created them with FIRESCOPE. Who wrote this and why? CAL FIRE is states fire department….

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Huh, I guess all those other strike teams were just illusions. Now it makes sense why the Dixie burned as long as it did. :woozy_face:

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Team Blaze…Sounds like a cartoon you would see on Saturday mornings.

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I knew ya’ll would have some “good” things to say about this :smirk: Ty for not disappointing… Lol

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“Div Yankee, CMD 5 on CDF CMD 1 Tone 2 How do you copy”

“Traffic for Div Yankee repeat, we are in CMD 1 Tone 2 not CMD 5”

“DIV Yankee this is CMD 5 on CDF CMD 1 Tone 2”

Laura & Hardy did a skit like this about 80yr ago🤦‍♂️

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Their skit was baseless, but a hit anyway.

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This, on the surface, does not appear to be a good use of Title 31 (National Guard) troops for staffing Type 6 engines. There are too many variables to consider, with the most concerning being reflex time from time of request.

I applaud OES for looking at solutions to the staffing problems statewide, but those rigs would be better served at the LG and CDF level.

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What a waste! Better served with equipment going to Cal Fire.

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LG Dept’s can’t staff them. Every department I know in CA is having a very difficult time keeping firehouses open, let alone taking on additional responsibilities of sending new/more resources out for 14+ days. Agencies are returning OES equipment citing “staffing” as the reason.

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You are correct. The Labor Force Participation rate fell in July.
June is 62.4%, July 62.1%. This measures able-bodied people
16-60 years old. It was also reported that 400,000 people left the work force in the 2nd quarter.

These staffing problems will continue, AND GET WORSE for the foreseeable future due to demographic shifts in American Society.

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I believe team blaze is one of the dedicated hand crews that Cal Fire has on the books. With that the response time will be minimal and available all year long. I still have my concerns about the whole concept myself.

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Team blaze has existed for awhile with the military department. I believe this is a good thing as staffing issues are across all departments state local etc. The military department has had personal carrying out fire missions with cal fire for a long time.

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Agree w/@Cdftim & @cdftruckfc

https://stateguard.cmd.ca.gov/public/team-blaze/

That name tho… sheesh…no line firefighter came up with it. :grimacing:

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Gen Z believes they are the hardest working generation ever. :expressionless: They will not work when they don’t want to. Good luck finding this type signing up for jobs with 24-72 hour station shift or 2-3 weeks or more on incident assignments and forced overtime.

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Interesting. Ty for the info.

Gen Z is worried college isn’t preparing them for the workforce… Nothing new there. I’ve done both… Went back to college in my 40s after working in my industry since I was 13 and I believe you need both. Plus the college program I did was more like trade school education geared. As a side note They also have an amazing firefighter program.

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DoD has about 10 bases state wide that have been removed from federal fire because of an agreement issue, they have available personal and ability to staff units for incidents. These rigs could be better served and faster response with 24-7 coverage with DoD fire.

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Lg departments did not want them or could not commit to staffing them, OES did what they could. They have been sitting in Sac looking for a home for quite awhile.

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