Every year California seems to always have an issue with wildfires occurring in the late fall. However, this year has been one of the worst fire disasters California has seen in decades. The causes for these fires are still unknown with investigators hearing stories concerning theories from arson to global warming. This year over a billion dollars in damage has been inflicted in southern California and has destroyed many homes belonging to popular celebrities. Now there have been recent accusations that acres of property could have been saved from the fires if more airplanes would have been utilized.
People are expressing their outrage that almost twelve water dropping helicopters and two C-130 mass transport jets were grounded and not used to help stop the wildfires from wiping out everything in their path. The main culprit for this mistake was poor planning before the fires even started. The C-130’s were not equipped with the tanks necessary to carry thousands of gallons of liquid used to stop wildfire. The helicopters were also grounded because there were no fire stoppers needed to accompany the National Guard to coordinate the drops.
With 500,000 acres of land burned, there is little excuse for allowing firefighting aircraft to remain on the ground. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stood up for the government’s decision and also added that the winds prevented any possible air raid that could have stopped the fires in time. However, during the same day, four state helicopters and two Navy planes were able to takeoff, despite the 100mph winds. Safety is of course a huge issue in aviation but decisions need to be made on what can be sacrificed when life depends on aircraft support.
Thomas Eversole, executive director of the American Helicopter Services & Aerial Firefighting Association, made a statement saying “valuable time was lost and if you don’t get there in time you run the risk of these fires getting out of control.” The investigation also revealed that the spotters didn’t report for duty until almost 24 hours after they were summoned and by then the winds made it unsafe to fly. This event is only a small example of why safety and planning should be utilized as much as possible during any flight, especially when lives are at stake.
1 comment:
I agree that the fires in California are definately a big problem. Every year there is something going on with fires in southern part of the state, especially this year and in 2003. But I dont believe that the problem is due to a lack in fire fighting measures. I think everything that could have been done was done this year. When they say that the grounded aircraft could not have been used due to the winds, I believe them. I'm no expert in aviation technology, but having been born and raised in California, I can tell you that the Santa Ana's are a big deal. Helping to spread the fires more quickly and preventing aircraft to take off. The strong winds and smokey conditions would have made it very difficult if not impossible to use some aircraft. And believe me, these are some strong winds, one of my friends in Rancho Bernardo took a picture of a gigantic tree along the road that was knocked over by the strong gusts of wind. Also, the winds themselves arent the only problems, the intense fires cause enormous updrafts.
An issue that was brought up was that with the bad seeing conditions, the planes flown by non-locals, if used, might have accidentally put out controlled fires, that is, fires that were purposely lit by firefighting crews to burn any "fuel" that the out of controlled fires would have used.
Anyway, I believe the problem lies in preventative measures. The fires must be combated before they can occur. People should not be living in such remote, and dry ares, and neighborhoods should be equipped and ready to help avoid the fires.
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