SoCal Fires Live Thread 10/28

10/28/03 | Myself

[headsonpikes]

I heard on the radio this AM in B.C. that some of our flight crews and tankers are headed south to help out.

[PhiKapMom]

Was it from the S this morning? I noticed when I first turned on KTLA the wind was blowing directly to the South and then to the SW and now the National Weather Service is reporting that wind is shifting through the day to blow NNE.

[PhiKapMom]

I heard it last night on KFI when they were interviewing two San Diego State Legislators. Appalling and I think Davis should be tried as a criminal!

[GOPrincess]

Handel's coming out swinging on KFI: "Gray Davis wants your house to burn down."

Gray's revenge?!?!?

[Conservative4Ever]

must...start....work....

must...leave.....computer

so......hard......to......break......away.......

damn good thing I am the boss :)

[BJungNan]

On Fox, you mean you could actually see the picture for the giant banner they run across the bottom. Last night I watching the Fox coverage and they showed a house burning. All you could see was the top tip of the roof and flames. The house was blocked by the Fox Banner at the bottom of the screen.

The editors at Fox are idiots!!!

[Travis McGee]

Because they've never trained for the mission,Bogus excuse. It's much easier than putting sling loads on pitching destroyers at night.

because Grayout Doofus is too feckless to ask for military help, That's true. Take him out back and put him out of his misery.

and because the private contractors do NOT want to compete with the military.Another leadership problem. We need an "Arnold" to fly into North Island trailed by TV cameras, walking into the hangers and saying on national TV,

"WHY IN THE HELL ARE THESE SEAHAWKS NOT HELPING IN THIS BATTLE!!!!! We can figure out the paper pushing angles later, we need these assets in this fight NOW!"

Then let the Admirals and the fedgov sputter and fume. You can bet those Seahawks would be flying in an hour. It's called CRISIS LEADERSHIP.

[maggief]

Updates since 9:35am (PDT).


Worse case scenario is here, but the battle rages on.
Backfires are being used on 18; so far, so good.
The priority for air support is to hinder the eastern part of the fire from advancing.


- Big Bear is under voluntary evacuation check www.bigbear.us for updates. [Radha Khalsa]

- The fire slightly east from the high school is coming up to the rim (18) rather close. Winds are changing a little and the smoke is increasing.

[PhiKapMom]

I had a problem with that all day yesterday -- couldn't pull myself away from here.

[GOPrincess]

Handel's saying now, Davis did ask for the military resources, *but* federal law prohibits the forest service from asking for military aircraft until it exhausts civilian resources. Then you can ask for military. Handel says this trigger occurred before Saturday, but planes couldn't fly over weekend due to 50 MPH winds. Handel now apparently was sarcastic earlier and appears to be defending Davis?

[spectr17]

that's good news.

Many air tankers in and out of Norton AFB (San Bernardino Intl Airport) supporting Lake Arrowhead right now

[Poohbah]

Sometimes you do what you gotta do. Putting a sling load on the deck of a pitching destroyer is MUCH harder than dropping a load of water from 200 feet over a fire.

It probably isn't; you don't have to worry about density altitude issues while you're over the destroyer.

And it's not just a matter of pure airmanship: you have to put the water on the right spot, or you might as well not bother. That's why they fly at such low altitudes.

It's a number of skills, and it's not the sort of thing you can pick up on a moment's notice.

Remember when we had that big fire New Years Day, after the Ramona firefighting strip had shut down? We damn near had some midairs the first day back in operation--and that was with experienced firefighting crews. 75 Seahawks with folks who've never done the mission wandering into that mess would not be pretty.

As for a few dozen buckets in the first few hours...

...don't say that too loud with the State's Rights crows within earshot. They'll loudly remind you that the Constitution never said a word about fighting forest fires, and that it's a purely state and local issue, even if the fire is threatening to burn down the naval air station (c8

[spectr17]

One bright note, that's some prime bear hunting country burning at LAke Arrowhead/Rimforest.

Gonna be some good regrowth their next year for deer season too

[PhiKapMom]

I am listening now. Think we will have to wait for Cong Hunter to clear this up as he is the person who gave the head of CDF General Myers number to call to request and he had to think about requesting General Myers help.

[BurbankKarl]

New Mexico engines arriving and checking in

[wildbirdhunter]

Hunter made the call on Sunday morning to the General than to the CDF chief and NO Gray mater Davis.
As of this point the choppers are still on the ground. The fires are now heading east the winds are still sifting and gusting at 20MPH south some into fresh pine and brush areas that have not burned in about 5 years or more.
On top of that Hunter had told them all that Bush would sign the disaster order as soon as it hit his hands clearing the money and way an that Bush was OK with calling the General before the order was signed.
Maybe if this had been done Hunter would not have lost his home in the cedar fire along with a lot of others.

[mitchbert]

Good. Saw on canada.com earlire that BC officials had initiated discussions with Cal people offering the use of the squads. BC fire assault teams are among the best in the world.

[CedarDave]

Is this guy (Handel) a conservative commentator??

[spectr17]

CH 9 showing air tanker drops at Rimforest

Tree fire reported at DEer Park Nudist Camp. Glen Helen Rd

Ouch

That's going to leave a mark

[Poohbah]

Bogus excuse. It's much easier than putting sling loads on pitching destroyers at night.

Having known some of the folks who trained for the mission...it may be "easier" in a technical sense, but it still must be learned, and it isn't in the Navy training syllabus.

BTW, they probably don't have more than one bucket per squadron--so maybe five buckets available.