Any update on Cfaa? About 2 weeks out until lights out.
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1 day out, and still no word about a new agreement or an extension of the existing.
Word is the FS came back with a host of new edits last week. Some Chief from OES went off and reportedly it’s now going through a signature process. Can’t confirm.
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Ditto. Sounds as if the USFS will not sign it will become the 6 party agreement.
So how will that work for joint response to incidents? Does that mean Fed only incidents and state/local gov only incidents? Or does it revert to the previous agreement? Or will each incident be individually negotiated?
Sorry if these are dumb questions, I’m just not getting to a point in my career where I need to understand more than just “one foot in front of the other.”
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FS is the number two user of it. Maybe number 1. They will sign it. Political nightmare if they don’t.
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No dumb questions. IMHO.
Cfaa’s focus is the movement of engines and overhead. Feds, mostly forest service, have direct protection responsibility of lands next to and within the WUI all over the state. Although they don’t have structure protection responsibility in these areas, they do have a responsibility to put the fire out. Not having access to order large quantities of LG engines and overhead during those uh-oh moments via the CFAA would prove not to be a sustainable business model for the forest service.
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Its all up to the USFS to sign the agreement. I don’t know what will happen IF they don’t. Might be a negation ploy to raise a fuss after you agreed verbally and then when it gets very close to the time you need it to balk. Not a good faith posture but that’s the Feds. Remember, it’s been the Feds that have been raising a fuss about the CFAA agreement for about a yr and a half. Time to get to work and put this to bed. We are all in this together.
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Tick Tock…
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Any update?
It has been signed and is being distributed as we speak.
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California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services
Fire and Rescue Division
TRANSMITTAL
To: REGIONAL FIRE AND RESCUE MUTUAL AID COORDINATORS
Daryl Osby Region I Coordinator
David Rocha Region II Coordinator
Mike Bradley Region III Coordinator
Eric Walder Region IV Coordinator
Mark A. Johnson Region V Coordinator
Dan Johnson Region VI Coordinator
Thomas Porter CAL FIRE
FROM BRIAN S. MARSHALL
State Fire and Rescue Chief
DATE: May 1, 2020
SUBJECT: 2020-2024 AGREEMENT FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT FIRE AND EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND FEDERAL FIRE AGENCIES
NOTE: TRANSMITTAL
PLEASE DELIVER TO REGIONAL FIRE AND RESCUE COORDINATOR I, II, III, IV, V, and IV
Please forward and distribute to the CAL OES Fire and Rescue Regional Coordinator and CAL OES Fire and Rescue Operational Area Coordinators within your region.
Please insure that the CAL OES Fire and Rescue Operational Area Coordinators forward and distribute to local Fire Agencies within their Operational Areas
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I’m pleased to deliver to the California Fire Service the 2020-2024 Agreement for Local Government Fire and Emergency Assistance to the State of California and Federal Fire Agencies and commonly referred to as the California Fire Assistance Agreement or CFAA. Included in this email are the necessary documents for your fire department to successfully implement this new agreement. Documents attached include:
- California Fire Assistance Agreement
- CFAA Changes
- CFAA Rate Letter
Additional documents available on-line and within both attached letters as links include:
- 2020 Attachment A – Non-Suppression Personnel
- 2020 Attachment B – Supplemental Personnel
- Instructions for Completing the 2020 Cal OES Salary Survey
- Instructions for Completing the Administrative Rate Calculations
- Indirect Cost Rate Plan Program/Function Definitions
The new Agreement and all supporting documents are posted on the Cal OES website at: https://www.caloes.ca.gov/cal-oes-divisions/fire-rescue/administration-reimbursement
I encourage you to thoroughly review the CFAA and all attached documents. There have been several changes incorporated into the new agreement.
The CFAA Committee will now focus on providing training to the California Fire Service. In light of COVID-19, training may have to be completed virtually. Staff will be working on the development of this training package with more information to follow.
For questions, please contact Cal OES Fire and Rescue Reimbursement Division at: cfaareimbursement@caloes.ca.gov or (916) 845-8711.
Thank you,
Brian
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Can anyone put the changes into layman’s terms for me? I don’t see many changes except that you can’t be with a department solely to be on an IMT.
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Eng. Rates went up!
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Yikes looks like feds are gonna have a tough time filling IMT’s.
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No doubt Eng1ne. No doubt.
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So if I’m reading this correctly, If you have tribal or DOD fire departments that usually supply personnel and equipment on local government strike teams, they won’t be able to go now and get paid?
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The way I read it, if they go to anything other than a Fed responsibility fire, they can respond under this agreement and get paid under this agreement.
Tribal fire dept that have a preexisting agreement w/BIA will be dispatched via Federal dispatch and not CFAA (i.e they can go but they can not belong to a LG S/T if they have the preexisting agreement or be ordered via CFAA).
Reimbursements on a fed fire to Fed, DOD or Tribal if available are covered under other agreements and the CFAA will not be involved in that process. (i.e. They might be paid, but under other agreements, not CFAA).
So I would guess, tribal and DOD will not be part of LG S/T because of the risk of being redispatched to a fed fire and the issues that involve.
Caveat…just me reading the plain text of the agreement, I have no policy roles…
The way Exhibits A-10 and A-41 read, local jurisdictions can backfill personnel, and there is no specificity as where or what limitations those backfills are taken from. A-41 is there as DOD, tribal etc. are Federally dispatch, tribal specifically through BIA and as such are reimbursed through Federal transfers not through the CFAA Agreement. If there is a circumstance whereby Federal personnel are backfilled into LG depts., they would be paid as part of the LG resources under the normal ordering fills as part of the Agreement.
I would suggest that you should probably run the question up through your chain of command for clarification at least to the Region OES office to get a formalized clarification so that there is no question as to whether a specific circumstance like you pose gets paid and under what payment vehicle. There are going to be subtle nuances with this new Agreement which are going to require that questions be formally asked and formalized answers. The absolute last thing anyone should do is take anything for granted or assumed.
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Please be specific on why you say this. I’m new to the agreement so nothing is obvious to me. Thanks.