CAL FIRE is rolling out a major staffing shakeup, moving away from its long-time reliance on seasonal crews and committing to keep at least one engine permanently staffed in each of its 10 field battalions. Each of those engines will carry a fire captain, a fire apparatus engineer, and a Firefighter II, a role the agency describes as a full-time, year-round position. Units across the state are already ramping up hiring and training to boost year-round coverage ahead of what officials expect to be an active fire season.
What CAL FIRE Announced
In a post from CAL FIRE LNU, the department said its goal is to assign one permanently staffed engine to each of its 10 field battalions and to hire roughly 30 Firefighter II personnel this year. The Sonoma Lake Napa Unit was highlighted for running the first Firefighter II academy and bringing 10 new permanent hires into the ranks. The post also noted that CAL FIRE will continue to operate 31 engines statewide while keeping 186 seasonal Firefighter I slots in place during the transition.
CAL FIRE is undergoing one of the most significant staffing transitions in its modern history as the department shifts toward increased permanent staffing.
— CAL FIRE LNU (@CALFIRELNU) April 14, 2026
Here in our CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, we are proud to host our first-ever Firefighter II Academy with 10 newly hired… pic.twitter.com/RnFdLU5mdR
What a Firefighter II Role Means
Firefighter II is a career classification within CAL FIRE that comes with broader training, certifications, and year-round responsibilities compared with seasonal Firefighter I assignments. The department’s recruiting materials describe Firefighter II as a permanent, full-time position with different certification and scheduling requirements than temporary seasonal roles, which helps explain why the agency is putting so much emphasis on those hires right now.
Why the Shift Matters Now
Agency officials and state budget testimony in recent years have pressed to move away from heavy dependence on seasonal crews and toward a larger, more stable baseline of staffed engines to support prevention work and initial attack. That legislative and budget discussion, together with warnings from interagency forecasts about a potentially long and busy fire season, has added urgency to the staffing changes. Reporting on the national outlook this spring, the National Interagency Fire Center meteorologists warned the West could be in for a very long and very busy season, a reminder of why year-round capacity is not just nice to have but increasingly necessary.
Local Angle: Sonoma Lake Napa Unit
The Sonoma Lake Napa Unit is among the first to turn recruits into permanent Firefighter II positions. The unit hosted its inaugural Firefighter II academy and added ten newly hired Firefighter IIs to its roster. Local leaders say having permanent, year-round crews makes it much easier to plan fuel reduction projects and neighborhood preparedness efforts outside the peak fire months, and those day-to-day operational gains are a key part of CAL FIRE’s argument for shifting some resources from seasonal to permanent staffing.
What Comes Next
CAL FIRE describes this as one of the most significant staffing transitions in its modern history and says the rollout will take time, with hiring, academy capacity and funding all shaping how fast the shift can happen. Officials emphasize that the move is aimed at strengthening both the initial attack on new fires and prevention work throughout the year, but they also acknowledge that recruiting and training enough Firefighter IIs will remain the main bottleneck to fully putting the plan in place.
