Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was in San Diego today to stress the important role citizens have in preventing and fighting wildfires. KPBS reporter Katie Orr explains the Governor says one line of defense would be a vote for the May 19th ballot propositions.
Schwarzenegger says he’s issued an Executive Order that’s meant to enhance state resources for wildfire preparedness. He made the announcement at San Diego’s CAL FIRE headquarters in East County. While there he took the opportunity to urge people to vote for several propositions in the upcoming special election that deal with California’s budget.
“And I think that the people of California need to know and have the right to know what happens if those initiatives don’t pass. That there’s $6 billion automatically that will be cut from firefighters, from law enforcement, from health clinics and from education,” he says.
Schwarzenegger says 90% of wildfires are started by people. And he says people can protect themselves by clearing brush within 100 feet of their homes.
Katie Orr, KPBS News.
