Posted on 08/02/2002 7:10:45 PM PDT by AuntB
The following is a transcribed portion of an interview aired today on the Lars Larson radio program from Portland, Or., which is broadcast across the Northwest from noon to 4:00 P.M. pacific. There is little I can add to his exchange with the executive vice-president of a company that supplies helicopter service to the US Forest service to show the inept and dangerous policies of this bureaucracy. Please bring these disclosures to your congress people’s attention and demand the policy of silence and media blackout practiced by the Forest Service and environmental groups stop. Our homes, forests and lives are being destroyed and YOU, the taxpayers are funding it.
***** Lars Larson: [Our radio affiliate, KCMX, Medford, Or – The Morning Express with Garth & Rosemary, 880 AM] called me this morning and said Mark Lindamood (sp) has just an unbelievable story to tell about Carson Helicopter and some work it’s been doing for the Forest Service in fighting these forest fires. Mark, why don’t you tell people how many helicopters you have up there working on behalf of the public to get those fires put out.
ML: Well, today we have 9 aircraft flying on the Toolbox fire, Timbered Rock, and the Southbisquit Fire.
LL: …people should realize that at one point, Mark’s helicopter pilots were told to stop taking water out of a pond to fight fires….Mark, why did your pilots decide that was a good pond to take water out of to dump on that fire?
ML: First let me preface this with the Oregon State dept. of Forestry is who we are working with on the Timbered Rock fire and in my opinion, as having done this for thousands of hours and many years, the Oregon State Dept. of Forestry is by far and above the best fire fighting team in the whole nation. These guys are absolute professionals and they were working on TR fire headed up by Phil Hostetter (sp). They found a dried out pond on the Josephine/Jackson County line. They took a dozer up, bladed out the pond a little bit, knocked down a couple trees I think, and that gave us good ingress and egress for our giant water buckets……
We flew out of that for a day or so, it shortened the turn around time from 10 minutes down to 2 or 3 minutes. And they kept the pond filled with water trucks that came up from Lost Creek or Elk Creek, someplace and kept the pond filled……BUT, we were just on the other side of the US Forest Service line and we were within their boundaries. So they came up yesterday (8/1) and shut the pond down and they gated it and prohibited trucks from coming in. Their reason for this was…. we didn’t ask for permission and they didn’t have what is called a “Dip Site Manager” on site. This is a problem that pervades the whole helicopter industry and it’s part of the USFS big overall problem. So they shut us down and we went back to running about a 10 minute flight for water.
Now, that land we we're on…… was not a park, it was not a road less area, it was not a wilderness area, it was a multiple use forest service property. In other words, YOUR PROPERTY…..
They finally got a “dip site manager” in, who by the way, sits on the heli-base about 15, 20 miles from the dig site and he or she brought their paperwork in………but that pond is not opened up yet because they are still trying to sort it out and that’s about a day and a half that’s gone by that we can’t use that site.
Listen, it gets worse. We have to wait constantly for these “quote managers”. First of all they’re named wrong, they should be called “liaisons” because when they’re designated “managers” they interpret that in their own mind as “boss”. These are people who are part timers or they work for the forest service full time and work part time as a “manager”. This week we waited for two days waiting for a “manager” with our …aircraft sitting in front of the hanger in the Grants Pass airport 7 miles from a major forest fire that is threatening homes, burning up property, and certainly wasting and burning up our own natural resources. With the USFS we have to have one manager per aircraft…… Under extreme emergencies a manager can handle two type one aircraft. We don’t carry people, we only carry water…….all our pilots have more than 15,000 hours, they all in their fifties, most of them, and we’re waiting on some college student while people’s homes are burning. The worst of it was on the fire in Colorado, near Durango, we had 3 aircraft working along a housing development…….. The three aircraft were keeping the fire away from this sub[division]by laying down retardant. The Columbia (another company) aircraft had to leave in about 20 minutes for fuel. They called our aircraft, which had almost 2 hours of fuel remaining aboard, and told us we had to come in because it’s time for [our] 2 ½ hour rest break. Our guys said they didn’t need the break,[ they were used to flying 10 hour days every day] …….they said you come in and land or you’re going to be in violation….….you have to remember, we have to fly 15 or 20 minutes back to the heli-base, shut the aircraft down, stop the rotors and then start it back up again and fly back out…..by the time our aircraft got back out there the housing development was GONE.
This kind of garbage, this kind of crap is why the president needs authority to fire people in our Homeland Defense. ….these people in the USFS are only interested in their wages, their time off, vacation time, their retirement, THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT OUR RESOURCES…….we have to operate our aircraft when were flying for the USFS at our very minimum. We have a performance section in flight manuals, a limitation section. They take our performance section, which is only there as a guideline, and make us operate on the very minimum of that. …under the guise of safety, USFS is the only place in the world I can work that I’m forced to do the absolute minimum that I can do and get paid the absolute maximum. …..I honestly think now that the USFS doesn’t care about our resources, they only care about their next year’s budget. The bigger their budget is this year, the bigger it will be next year. Their answer to it is to hire more “managers”.
LL: What is it that the public can do to help you get some of the bureaucrats to get off the dime and actually let you and your pilots do their jobs?
ML: They need to get in touch with their congress people, senators. It’s almost like it’s so big now that it’s feeding on itself……….and I will tell you in my opinion, they are at least partially responsible for some of the devastating loss that people have experienced here. We wait…..sometimes 2 days for this “manager” to come, and that may not sound like a long time to the forest service people ……..but if your home is burning or your barn is on fire or you’re losing your timber stand, that is a lifetime of wait.
I want to go back to the 21/2 hour mandatory coffee break…….. I wrote for a rule change….to the National Interagency Fire Center, who hires us, and we ask to change the rule because our aircraft are designed to fly 8 hours. We have special equipment in them that we can fly 8 straight without landing….and we do it every day, day in, day out. J. P. Johnston (sp), the head of the helicopter portion of NIFC told us that we would have to hire a lobbyist …or hire their lobbyist to change that rule.
Our daily availability rate is $19,256.00 plus $2,414.00 for every hour we fly plus all the other fees. We LOVE the money we get. The thing is Lars, I’m personally ashamed. I’m ashamed of this……
(Excerpt) Read more at larslarson.com ...
Check out this email I got on this article.
You are so right about the USFW "gone" green. My father is a retired US Forester over 20 years with the USFS. When he retired back in 1985, The Sierra Club and TNC were paying for "all costs" for undergrad and postgraduate work. Via..."scholarships" for Federal employees. By all costs I mean EVERYTHING! Living expenses, books, tuition, what ever was needed, the student was “awarded.” After all they already were working for the US Government. NGO's know it is impossible to "fire" a federal employee, so it was only a matter of time before the “ticking bomb” would be noticed. He told me this “scholarship” system began in the 1970’s during the early stages of the ESA being “applied” in the county.
Talk about bought and paid for.
Federal employees should not be allowed to accept "scholarship" money from NGO's. That is just plain WRONG. All who have should be investigated and terminated. Talk about a federal ENRON or WORLDCOM.
Again more Liberal hypocrisy!
Nik; Thank You for drawing that to my attention. I have been sitting here for an hour trying to remember where I heard that title before. You made my day. Biffalo
Ahh Grim me boy, surely you are a man after me own heart.
Oh good grief. Now that explains things. Or is it "Dip Sh*t Manager, same difference.
Update on So. Oregon fires: I understand the people working on and near the fire are suffering terribly with poison oak....the worst case I ever had was from smoke. I'll take pain anyday of that! The weather is 70%, so were hoping it stays that way or rains! PRAY for rain.
That's the problem with Federal ownership of land.
Even if the states Governor were of a mind to I don't think he could order the Feds out. The 16th and 17th Ammendments (which were certified but not legally ratified.) effectively killed state sovereignty.
[This is not a republic anymore.]
The Feds are all powerful and where they claim jurisdiction they are God.
That and the trampling of the 10th.
So I preach it when I see an opening.
If I put a different emphasis on your words I am in total agreement.
the Governor of Oregon should order the USFS folks out
And the people of Oregon should stand up with torches, pitchforks and hot tar and order the Governor to do so.
It was clear from your post what you meant.
Besides, even if I thought you were preaching, it never hurts for the choir to hear a sermon now and then.
Trust your government!! /sarcasm OFF
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.