Feeding the fire: Where CalFire firefighters eat on the job.

One of the remarkable things about watching CalFire work happens as they arrive to the scene of a wildfire and set up nearby incident command centers, miniature portable cities with facilities like showers, briefing areas where commanders present firefighters with relevant maps and weather conditions, and full kitchens. 

It's no surprise that the cost of firefighting personnel, equipment and setting up and stocking an incident command center are costly. 

But what's rare is for someone to get a bill. 

After a prescribed burn jumped the fire line on Bill Massa's Rat Camp Ranch near Chualar in March of 2014, Massa—a well-known figure in the Salinas produce shipping business—got a bill from CalFire 18 months later for a total of $527,003.30.

The Weekly filed a Public Records Act request seeking to understand better how CalFire arrived at that figure, which Massa's supporters say he shouldn't have to pay. 

What came back from CalFire are dozens of pages of receipts attached to a summary of the costs.

The summary breaks the bill down into a few major categories: $95,804.08 for regular work time, and $71,993.08 for overtime. Then there's $70,205.56 for fixing a broken wing on an airplane, and $32,280.42 for "other aircraft costs." 

Expenses get more detailed in subsequent pages, identifying each of 86 firefighters by name, hourly rate, and number of hours worked regular time and overtime. 

Then there are the daily and hourly rates for various types of equipment—$680 for a bulldozer support unit, $1,662.50 for a fire truck here, $2,852.50 for a fire truck there. 

There were large contracts with prison firefighter crews, paid to the California Department of Corrections (totaling nearly $70,000 to multiple teams). 

Then there's a page listing "support purchases," the mundane stuff of basic living that firefighters require, too. 

There are hotel, restaurant and grocery bills. The Weekly decided to take a look at which food establishments the CalFire crew relied on for sustenance while battling the Encinal Fire. 

Here's a partial list:

• $104.91 at Mountain Mike's Pizza in Hollister, where they ordered six pies, each with different toppings;
• $610.10 at the VS Diner in King City, where orders included a ham sandwich, chorizo with egg whites and a Cobb salad;
• $79.99 at Ding-a-Ling Cafe in Hollister; 
• $1,080.41 at the Windmill Restaurant in Soledad; 
• $12,908.67 at Scotts Valley Market, for a purchase that included $1,375 worth of Gatorade, $240 worth of ice, and $2,722.50 on what's called "bag line lunch 'meat'"—no explanation provided for the use of quotation marks around the word meat;
• $194.85 on water and gatorade at Safeway in Prunedale; 
• $150.91 for water, Gatorade and AA batteries at Walmart in Paso Robles;
• $75.95 at Subway in Hollister.

In a letter provided to the California State Controller's Office explaining CalFire's food buying practices, Clare Frank, assistant deputy director of cooperative fire, training and safety explained it this way: 

"It is critical for [CalFire] to maintain its ability to purchase bagged lunched and other prepared meals in support of emergencies. CalFire must provide meals to firefighting personnel during the first 24 hours of an emergency prior to the availability of mobile kitchen facilities at the incident location."