Western Wildfires Update: Hundreds near Calif. fire ordered out

AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/3/07 | AP

[JohnA]

Have you heard of the Boeing-Weyerhauser Cardboard Boxes filled with waterballoons that fly like parachutes?

[JohnA]

Something else for the Forest Service to putz with for a decade or longer.

[JohnA]

errata:

Weyerhaeuser

[NormsRevenge]

No. news to me.

[JohnA]

http://www.knbc.com/news/13816562/detail.html

[JohnA]

Weyerhaeuser, a paper company with thousands of acres of trees, says they'll use it on their own forest until the government catches up.

The Martin-Mars (6600 USG), North America's largest waterbomber, was developed along the same lines and owned/used by big BC forestry corporations with an option on govt to use in dire emergencies. It's a Humphrey Bogart-era plane.

[forester]

Fire fighting is a blank check from the goverment...there are no limits on how much can be spent. When I was a firefighter, I often heard phrases like “ Where there’s smoke, there’s money.” and “every lightning flash means cash.”

Now, after 9-11, firefighters are treated like heroes...even if they don’t deserve it and are total slackers.

Add this attitude with a blank check from congress and couple it with unnatural forest fuel loads due to gov’t mismanagement - or in other words, no management at all ( benign neglect) due to environmentalist lawsuits, - and we have the perfect recipe for catastrophe.

All I can say is that I hope your house is not sacrificed for the greater good.

[Moonmad27]

Must be something in Montecito and Santa Barbara! I’m in Ventura 25 miles down the coast, and at 6 the smoky clouds from the north were low over this part of town, clouding over the sun.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks! whatever it takes to put out the fire.

[forester]

Correction: Greater Good should be in paranthesis because that is not my thoughts...they are the thoughts of the Sierra Club and nature conservancy who always respond “ It’s a shame that all those houses burned up, but gee whiz, they should never have been built in the wilderness.”

This is such crap. This line is often applied to 100 year old structures.

I ask you: why is it that after a hundred years that these houses are suddenly deamed : “shouldn’t be there”?

[JohnA]

This is what it would take but the Forest Service will fight this for another 12 years and it doesn't look all that promising politically.

[NormsRevenge]

The Ilyushin 76 tanker

Huge “payload” for sure,, but like you say, the West may be burning for years before it flies here.

[JohnA]

Associated Press hangs up the ‘phone.

[JohnA]

OTOH, if things get really, really, really bad, there is always this.

[IM2MAD]

Here’s a good resource for tracking fires...

http://www.nifc.gov/fire_info/nfn.htm

[NormsRevenge]

I don’t know about that flying.. ;-)

[JohnA]

The EU’s environment man is trying to put a disaster response package together. So Europe may have better firefighting sooner than the mighty USA if/when that happens. If this year’s successes are any measure it will be largely based on Russian firefighting aircraft.

[NormsRevenge]

More power to them,, they need it too, quite a few fires on the Continent these days..

[JohnA]

Governator's been briefed on the IL-76 waterbomber.

It would be good if he'd just call in the Russians but the DC-10 is back so, politically, it needs to be given another chance. I hope nobody gets hurt.