News: October 2003 Archives
Want to know what's going to be in the LA Times on Wednesday? Just listen to talk radio on Tuesday morning. Apparently, the reports that Davis turned away federal help while peoples' homes burned is true.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine), whose home was destroyed by fire Monday, said federal legislation that would smooth the way for the military to use its helicopters to fight fire on public and private land is being stymied by private companies that lease firefighting planes to state governments.The firefighters insist that Davis didn't cause any delays, but their union was one of Davis' most fervent supporters in the recent recall election.Throughout San Diego County, in the early phase of the most destructive fire in its history, homeowners had looked skyward for tankers and helicopters but didn't see any.
"The only chance to stop the fire was aerial tankers early on Sunday morning, backed by bulldozers, and that's what didn't happen," said Richard Carson, an economics professor at UC San Diego and an expert on public policies involving disaster response, including large-scale brush fires. ...
San Diego-based Navy helicopters, routinely used to fight fires on military property, were prepared to battle the Cedar fire on Sunday but remained grounded because state officials said the Navy pilots did not have appropriate training. The helicopters were flown to the Ramona airport, but pilots were denied permission to drop water as the fire began its march south and west.
"It's one thing to get the plane," she said. "It's another thing to get them ready to fly in California airspace…. As we develop the specific chronology, we will be able to show that there was no delay in the process. We think the facts will support that all efforts were taken."I'm no firefighting-pilot, but I play one on TV; everyone wants the pilots to be safe, but is it really such a challenge to get into the planes/helicopters, fly over the fires, and drop water? Apparently, these military assets are used to fight fires on federal land (in California!), so why aren't they qualified to fight fires on adjacent state land? We all want our firefighters to be safe, but when there's a huge emergency sometimes greater risks need to be taken.
But Hunter said the "firefighting bureaucracy" tends to be slow to act and that officials are reluctant to criticize other fire officials.Oh, maybe that's the problem -- Davis owes some buddies some favors. He wants to land a cushy consulting job once he's ousted from government, and he can't (ahem) burn all his bridges just because he's on his way out. It's a pity about the thousands of homes and dozens of lives, but c'mon people, get some perspective!Hunter said other members of Congress from Western states have been frustrated when asking state officials to request aerial tankers and helicopters from the U.S. military.
"There's a reluctance among the firefighting bureaucracy at the state and federal levels to use military assets until they exhaust the last of private companies," Hunter said.
He said he has teamed with a congressman from Colorado to seek a change in federal law that would speed the process of getting military craft to fight fires. The private companies that lease and operate aerial tankers are opposed to such a move, Hunter said.
Someone named Dikran Armouchian has been arrested for setting a fire in the Angeles National Forest (thanks, SDB's reader). Google doesn't turn up a hit for his name, and there's not much more information available at this point.
Can anyone place the origin or nationality of the name?
Update:
In the comments, Francis W. Porretto says the name is Armenian, and this page of Armenian names lists "Dikran" as a good first name for an Armenian baby boy.
I just heard on KFI 640 that Governor Davis "wants your homes to burn!" because, apparently, he has refused to request the use of military fire-fighting planes that are stationed in Southern California. One of our Representatives (I missed the name) arranged for the Air National Guard to fly the water-dropping planes, but Davis said no.
Flipping through the stations as I was driving to work, someone on KABC 790 said that the the forest service stopped performing controlled burns in the San Bernardino National Forest in the early 1980s because of complaints from environmentalists. The speaker also said that the forest density is much higher than it was hundreds of years ago, because the Indians used to start fires from time to time that would never get put out, and we put out all the fires that are started by lightning. Combined with the recent dung beetle infestation that has killed a lot of trees, he said that the whole forest could go up in smoke. I hope not.
