The Pala Band of Mission Indians and the state of California made history Thursday.
"This is the first time a tribe has entered into an agreement like this with the state of California. And we are proud to be leading the way of the new and evolving relationships between states and tribes," Tribal Chairman Robert Smith said.
The leader of the Pala Band of Mission Indians signed the first mutual aid agreement between the tribal fire department and the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). Smith celebrated the agreement on sovereign land at the band's only fire station.
"We are setting a new standard for virtual government-to-government partnerships to ensure safety of our communities. This is a momentous achievement for our fire department, our tribe and our entire community," Smith said.
Cal OES Director Nancy Ward said the department would be joining 60 jurisdictions.
"Cal OES is honored and proud," Ward said. "This is not only a historic moment for your members, but you are leading the way for the other California tribes. As of today, you are officially part of the California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System and will be able to use the fire engine to help local and statewide all-hazards response, especially during wildfire season."
Under the agreement, the Pala Fire Department will house and staff a bright yellow, Cal OES type-3 rig and send it anywhere in the state. But many fire departments are having staffing issues, and Pala Fire is no different. The band is currently down three firefighter-paramedics and one engineer. But would this be an issue for a department that only has one station and 31 staff members, covering more than 12,000 acres of land?
"Once we're committed and they call us, this is what we got to do," Vice Chairman Anthony Ravago, who is also the fire chief, said during the news conference.
Ravago said it did not worry him that the department is not fully staffed.
"It doesn’t worry me because our commitment is to OES for that rig being here, and so we'll staff that," Ravago said. "We do callbacks, and, if not, the mutual-aid, auto-aid agreements we have within the other departments in the surrounding area will help cover us."
Ward also answered the question.
"Cal Fire brings on a surge of firefighters for the summer. We have 270 of these engines out and about all over the state, so we will balance who can come, who can go, and ensure that the fires are covered," she said. "I don't see an issue in resource alignment, but it's a balancing act. There's no question about that."
Now that a framework is in place, Ward said, more tribal governments are ready to sign similar agreements.
"We have the attorneys that helped Pala at the ready, and they've given us permission to be able to point a new tribe to them, to talk to them and walk them through the agreements," Ward said. "We didn't have that before. We were kind of building the plane as we were flying it, so to speak, and so this is why this is just an absolutely historic day."
This type of agreement used to be forbidden, and it took legislation and four months of negotiations to complete.
"Gov. Gavin Newsom positioned us to now be able to enter into those master mutual aid agreements with tribal governments, so it changed the game," Ward said.
But Ravago said there were things that were not negotiable. "The main thing is our sovereignty. We always protect that," he said. "That's one thing that we have that no one will ever take from us."
