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"I don't know of any budget request that's come forward since that time that we haven't funded," said Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, who leads the state Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Reviews.

Statewide firefighters union officials sounded the same note.

"The Schwarzenegger administration has been reasonably prudent when it comes to disaster response," said Terry McHale, a public policy director for the California State Firefighters Association.

Both state senators and firefighters union officials said the state's long-term drought, global warming and new housing developments closer to forests are the larger problems that need to be tackled.

Give me a break! If they would tackle REAL problems, we might have a chance.

Since they won't, here's a thought:

• Eliminate all federal lands
• Eliminate all state lands
• Put the land in the hands of private citizens, within designated cities/counties
• Cities and counties establish resources to defend themselves (and work with other areas for cross-city/cross-state surge capabilities in the event of catastrophic events)

In other words, eliminate tier-after-tier of bureaucrats and they could get it done.