Posted on 10/24/2007 9:47:25 AM PDT by AuntB
[snip]
HUNTER: You know, they have got to have some creative writers to somehow link these — these natural disasters with — with troops in Iraq, because, first, we have got thousands of Marines who are available right now at Camp Pendleton.
And you get a 60-mile-an-hour wind, and a lot of brittle sagebrush in front of you, and this — this what you might call a perfect storm of wind patterns, and a lot of — a lot of heat, and you get these fires moving at an incredible speed across the California sagebrush, you could put the entire U.S. Army in front of them, and you can't stop them. You can mitigate them. You can try to block them at the pass, and you can try to neutralize them and back them down as the conditions improve.
But this has nothing to do with the disbursement of American troops around the world. In fact, at this place, in San Diego, we have got access to more troops, more helicopters, more military equipment than probably anyplace else in the country.
Unfortunately, we got a lot of desert, and we have got hot winds coming off that desert, and we have got — we have got real drought conditions that are contributing to this fire.
But, once again, San Diegans are going to come back, and we're going to rebuild, and we're going to be better than ever.
CAVUTO: All right. Congressman, thank you very much — Congressman Duncan Hunter in California right now.
HUNTER: Thanks, Neil.
CAVUTO: It makes you wonder. If we weren't in Iraq, I suppose these winds wouldn't have come, these fires wouldn't have started? I don't know.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I just read this, he’s gotten some equipment from Canada. This wouldn’t be getting done if not for Hunter.
B.C.-based water bomber flies south to fight fires
Sandra McCulloch, Times Colonist
Published: Wednesday, October 24, 2007
A Martin Mars water bomber was expected to leave Nanoose at dawn and arrive in San Diego at 1 p.m. today, where it will help weary U.S. crews battle wildfires fanned by the Santa Ana winds.
The drought-fuelled wildfires have burned more than 750 homes and forced the evacuation of an additional 500,000 residents as they spread across 142,000 hectares of Southern California
The amphibious water bomber left its Sproat Lake base, outside Port Alberni, yesterday and spent the night at Nanoose. The water bomber’s owner, Wayne Coulson, flew with 10 employees of Coulson Group to San Diego last night and will meet with the aircraft as it arrives.
“We’re really grateful to have it here,” said Maurice Luque, San Diego Fire Department spokesman, yesterday.
The fires are not contained but winds had lessened somewhat yesterday, said Luque in a telephone interview. “It would have been so wonderful to have had the Mars here a day or so ago when the fire first broke out.
Luque added that resources, personnel and equipment have also arrived from northern California to help out.
The Martin Mars “is much larger and will add immensely to the capability and the potential to save structures down here,” he said.
The fires could be larger than the ones that devastated the San Diego region in 2003, said Luque. “We thought we saw the last of fires of that magnitude but we definitely have that here.”
In 2003, fires destroyed 2,406 homes and killed 16 people, including a firefighter.
The call for the water bomber’s assistance had been anticipated and plans were in place to dispatch it, said Coulson in an interview yesterday.
“It’s been wild, the last couple of days, trying to get organized here,” Coulson said.
“I’ve been down with San Diego fire department four times in the last five weeks working ... on placing the Mars down there for the Santa Anas.”
Coulson and his staff have worked out plans with the San Diego Fire Department and Congressman Duncan Hunter’s office, Coulson said. “We’re ahead of the game, we’ve flown into a bunch of the water reservoirs down there so we have a sense of where we’re going to go.”
A tractor-trailer used for specialized maintenance and a fuel truck left for San Diego on Monday.
Crews at the Sproat Lake base worked all night Monday into yesterday to prepare the aircraft for the job, said Coulson.
Since purchasing the two Martin Mars water bombers from TimberWest in April 2007, Coulson has used only one aircraft at a time and operations were downsized as a result.
A wet summer meant there were few wildfires breaking out along the coast and the water bomber available for a summer of work was mainly idle.
Crews test-flew the aircraft yesterday at Sproat Lake to make sure everything was working as it should.
This isn’t the first time a Coulson-owned aircraft has fought wildfires in southern California. A firefighting helicopter worked in the Los Angeles basin for five years. “It’s a natural fit for us,” said Coulson. “We know everybody, we know what we’re going into and everyone knows us. We’re pretty pleased.”
“But no White House hopeful has been impacted by the fires like Republican Duncan Hunter. The California congressman represents — and resides in — a San Diego-area district ravaged by the flames. Instead of campaigning, he’s been at home getting help for his constituents. For Hunter, the fires are very personal.
“Our house burned down three years ago. And we just got it rebuilt,” he told CNN Tuesday. “And my wife called me up and said, ‘I’ve got good news and bad news.’ While I was at the presidential debate (this weekend) I was walking up on the stage and I got the cell phone call that San Diego was burning again. And she said, ‘I got the permit for us to move back in, but we’ve just been told we can’t move back in in our canyon.”
I didn’t know he lost his house several years ago.
From this link:
http://www.wptv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=20aba677-01a9-4e2d-8c49-09ffb0cacce4
The more I see of Duncan Hunter the more I like him.
I was channel surfing for fire coverage this morning and I came across an MSNBC female anchor interviewing Brown, former FEMA director:
“Do you think the Bush administrations fast response to this disaster is because they are white and wealthy, while New Orleans was mostly black?”
I kid you not. The anchor seemed uncomfortable asking it.
Ugh. That’s sad. Pulling the race card impedes so much progress.
Can he do it? Can he take advantage of the situation in a meaningful way?
Hunter Ping
May the 'Rats become proficient at this.
(At least until they shape up and shake off their wannabe totalitarian masters. Hearty debate is a good thing; scorched-earth policy isn't.)
OMG - what was Brown’s response?
bttt
I hope he said that NO ...It had nothing to do with a Bush response but it had alot to do with the fact that the council people and the mayors and the governor and the Congressman were all right there handling the emergency and hadnt fled out of state like they did with Katrina. Add the fact that the evacuees at the stadium were asking to help out and volunteer at the stadium to the point that last night the guy who was heading the effort at the stadium said he had more volunteers than evacuees because the evacuees themselves were acting as volunteers. Flash back to the evacuees in New Orleans who cried why isnt anyone doing anything for me?
Big difference in the attitude and actions of the California people. Kudos to them for showing how it is done.
He emphasized what a ridiculous concept then pointed out the governor of LA was inept.
The more folks get to know him the better they will like him - great presidential material.
This election is America’s Battle of the Bulge. If we don’t elect a tried and true Conservative like Duncan L. Hunter, America will lose the war. So for victory, enlist, all you doubters and naysayers, in Hunter’s Rangers, or suffer the dismal consequences.
No amount of money can change that.
Like I’ve said before, Fredheads are all bone and no brain.
Keep your personal attacks to yourself please.
It just exposes your stupidity.
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