BY SOO KIM , Newsweek
As California battles both wildfires and the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, resources have been “stretched totally thin,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) told Newsweek.
Cal Fire President Tim Edwards said: “In the last few weeks, resources across California have been stretched totally thin.”
Nearly 150 firefighters from Cal Fire, which is responsible for fighting fires in over 96 to 99 million acres of California’s nearly 101.7 million total acres of land, are currently in quarantine due to COVID-19 infection or exposure.
“For Cal Fire, right now statewide we have approximately 130 firefighters who are quarantined. Out of those, over half have tested positive [for COVID-19] and the rest were exposed due to it. So this adds to the strain on Cal Fire,” he said.
Even before the outbreak began, due to budget cuts Cal Fire was short by 400 firefighters to bring the department up to its minimum operational requirement, Edwards noted.
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