To: Cindy
Yes, the Simi valley fire was caused by an arsonist, the Cedar fire by a hunter shooting a flare, the Pendleton fire by the U.S. Marines, the Old Fire by teenagers.
I feel sorry for our country if Al Qaeda has penetrated us that far...
>>FBI: al-Qaeda detainee spoke of fire plot
To: BurbankKarl
Sorry if this is a repost:
GOP attacks Davis on wildfires
UNION-TRIBUNE and SIGNONSANDIEGO
1:05 p.m. October 27, 2003
Republican politicians charged the Democratic Davis administration today with failing to move quickly enough to send in military assets to help fight the numerous blazes raging in the area.
The allegation brought a sharp retort from the governor's press secretary, Steve Maviglio, who called the grousing "the worst kind of political maneuvering" and said the critics are "not helping put one fire out."
Republican Assemblyman Jay La Suer of La Mesa, County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon and several other East County Republicans gathered at La Suer's La Mesa offices to call for the state to quickly approve a request to bring in a military firefighting unit from Colorado Springs.
Hunter said Gen. Richard Myers, the Joint Chiefs chairman, offered use of the Colorado Springs-based Military Aerial Firefighting wing to assist in combating fires, but that the required request from the governor's office for that help has not been made. Another, similar unit at Point Mugu, has already been released to help fight the fires.
"This (Colorado Springs) help has been available since yesterday, around noon,'' said Wendell Cutting, Hunter's chief of staff. Cutting called the California Governor's Office the "epitome of a beauracracy.'' Gov. Gray Davis, speaking to reporters in Santa Monica before leaving for San Diego, said he had called the president's chief of staff last night to impress upon him the need to sign a presidential disaster declaration as soon as possible. Davis said he has asked Gov. Kenny Guinn of Nevada and Janet Napolitano of Arizona to provide 50 fire engines each, most of which will be deployed in San Diego County, where "most of the deaths have occurred.''
Davis said every state agency is involved in helping with the fire-related problems, from the National Guard (helicopters, cots) to the CHP (12-hour shifts, helping with evacuations), mental health (for those who lost homes), Caltrans (moving cars, trucks and livestock).
Davis said what he really wants to see is the federal government set up one-stop "shops'' like those established after the Northridge earthquake in 1994, where local, state and federal aid was available under one roof, "`making it as easy as possible for the victims of this disaster.''
He said he was briefing Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger on an hourly basis. He said Schwarzenegger will be going to Washington, D.C. tomorrow to ask for federal assistance.
Davis said putting the fires out is the state's top priority, then helping people put their lives back in order.
(snip)
959 posted on
10/27/2003 2:31:17 PM PST by
maggief
To: BurbankKarl; All
1,537 posted on
10/27/2003 6:06:59 PM PST by
Cindy
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