They have 100 of these Navy-version blackhawks over there, and they are all trained for carrying heavy sling loads, (it's a routine job they do in the fleet, dropping cargo onto ships). He can't understand why there were never tasked with water bucket missions, and still have not been. A Seahawk can lift a water bucket the size of a van. It's a very easy and safe mission, he says. Fly to lake, descend to fill bucket, fly over fire, drop water. Repeat until out of fuel, refuel, continue.
There are 100 Navy Seahawk helos, sitting at North Island, ten minutes flying time from the fires. At least 75 of them are "flyable" today, immediately, if given the order.
What is the sense of that?
If this turns out to be the beginning of a new form of terrorism, then certainly we had better get the military involved where ever it can be. If the first fires were attacked by helicopters with water buckets the first hours they were reported, they might have been put out while they were still small.
Certainly, we need to evolve a new strategy for dealing with coordinated arson-terrorist started fires, a strategy involving the IMMEDIATE use of every available helicopter capable of lifting a water bucket.
What is the sense of having 100 Navy Seahawks sitting idle at North Island, fifteen miles from the fires??????