A recently enacted California law is changing how firefighters are equipped to fight fires like the Mountain Fire.
AB2075 requires firefighters to carry basic firefighting tools, including shovels and fire extinguishers, in a motor vehicle while performing brush clearance. Workers on foot using power tools must also have a fire extinguisher and shovels nearby.
The Ventura County District Attorney's office sponsored the legislation.
"We had 20,000 acres burned, several hundred homes and structures lost," said Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. "It's hoped that by requiring firefighting tools on vehicles performing brush clearance, it could make the difference between a small fire and a devastating disaster."
The Mountain Fire in Ventura County was caused by a reignited ember from another fire that was a week old. A tractor tire sparked it.
"If that tractor driver did not have to run up that very steep hill, what if he had, when he saw the flames come out of his engine, a fire extinguisher?"
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB2075 into law this week.
