Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
October 25, 2007 By Steve Schmidt, Staff Writer
A swelling armada of firefighting aircraft took to the skies over San Diego County yesterday, but authorities found themselves on the defensive over whether they had called in enough air power.
State and federal fire officials based at a joint command center in Riverside said last night that at least 35 helicopters and as many as 22 airplanes had been assigned to drop water and fire retardant in the San Diego region.
“We had a significant increase in air support today, no question about it,” said county Supervisor Ron Roberts, who previously had raised concerns about the scarcity of aircraft. “I am absolutely convinced that everyone ... is trying to do whatever we can to get those assets up.”
A drumbeat of criticism, fanned in part by talk radio, TV news and the Internet, appeared to build during the day over whether the firefighting fleet was fully mobilized. Those concerns may have been heightened by an announcement late yesterday afternoon that the arrival of a giant Canadian seaplane – the privately owned Martin Mars – called in to join the fight had been delayed because of customs issues.
San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman expected the former Navy flying boat, capable of dropping enough water to cover 4 acres in a single pass, to arrive in Southern California last night.
At least 35 helicopters, many of them UH-1H Super Hueys, were already assigned to San Diego fires yesterday, including 15 choppers on the Witch Creek fire and 19 on the Harris blaze, authorities said. At least 22 airplanes worked fires yesterday across the entire Southern California region, many of the based in Ramona or Hemet. Most were S2-T air tankers.
The complaints over the lack of broad air support were similar to those that arose after the start of the Cedar and Paradise fires in October 2003. Roberts and others blamed the problems then on government bureaucracy and poor coordination among agencies.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other officials said yesterday that they had been eager to get more aircraft off the ground in the early hours of this week's blazes.
The problem wasn't red tape, they said. It was Mother Nature.
“Anyone that is complaining about the planes just wants to complain, because that's a bunch of nonsense,” the governor said in a TV interview broadcast Tuesday night. “The fact is that we could have all the planes in the world here – we have 90 aircraft here and six that we got especially from the federal government – and they can't fly because of the wind situation.”
Federal Emergency Management Administration chief R. David Paulison, who was in San Diego yesterday, agreed.
“The bureaucracy was never there, that I saw,” he said. “The issue was the wind.”
On Tuesday, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, said efforts to get military helicopters into the massive firefight were being thwarted by bureaucratic obstacles.
Retired San Diego Fire Chief Jeff Bowman was just as critical when discussing military support, or the lack thereof. He said he watched as Hunter appeared on morning news briefings yesterday to talk about the delay in bringing in massive military planes designed to drop tons of fire retardant.
“Why weren't those pre-positioned here weeks ago?” Bowman asked. “We knew the high-pressure system was building.”
Hunter also said the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, hasn't had enough personnel to operate all of the available military helicopters.
“These are things we dealt with during the Cedar fire,” Bowman said. “And you ask why I'm frustrated.”
Hunter and other elected officials said they had to hammer out special waivers before the Marine Corps and Cal Fire could team up.
One sticking point: a requirement that Cal Fire spotters be in position aboard aircraft during operations. Hunter said the military should be able to carry out operations alone.
Cal Fire Director Ruben Grijalva said last night that he had talked with Hunter late Tuesday.
“I agreed with him. I said, 'We can do more, and we can do better,'” Grijalva said after a news conference with Schwarzenegger yesterday at Steele Canyon High School in Rancho San Diego.
Grijalva said he immediately directed his commanders “to do whatever is necessary to get those military assets into operation, so long as they can do it in a coordinated and a safe manner.”
The Marine Corps had offered up to 20 CH-53 firefighting helicopters as early as Sunday, according to a Miramar news release. But a Marine spokesman said Cal Fire didn't ask for them until Tuesday.
“We were prepared to conduct missions before that, but we had not received any requests at that time,” said Maj. Jason Johnston, a Miramar Marine Corps Air Station spokesman. “I do know that, once the request came, we were able to respond.”
But he agreed that Cal Fire might have faced chaos had it pressed every available aircraft into service at once.
“A lot of people think you can just throw all your assets into the air,” he said.
Despite the delay that affected the Marines, the Navy was given permission to launch two MH-60S Seahawk firefighting helicopters based at North Island Naval Air Station about noon Monday, a Navy spokesman said. That was the earliest time wind conditions allowed them to fly.
“We were happy to be brought in very early – in fact, right away,” said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for the San Diego-based Naval Air Forces command.
The helicopters carry buckets that can dump 420 gallons of water.
Six Navy helicopters flew Tuesday and five yesterday.
Six Air National Guard aircraft – C-130 tankers – were reported en route to the San Diego yesterday from military bases in Wyoming, North Carolina and Colorado.
The fierce weather conditions dictated Cal Fire's decision to ground aircraft, said Tom Humann, Cal Fire's aviation safety officer.
He said the military offered an unexpectedly large number of aircraft. That's when Cal Fire came up with a plan to use one spotter for several aircraft.
“Our agency works as best we can. We always adapt and overcome,” Humann said. “Cal Fire is using every resource at its disposal.”
Staff writers Steve Liewer, Tony Manolatos, Chris Moran and Onell R. Soto contributed to this report.
October 25, 2007 By Steve Schmidt, Staff Writer
A swelling armada of firefighting aircraft took to the skies over San Diego County yesterday, but authorities found themselves on the defensive over whether they had called in enough air power.
State and federal fire officials based at a joint command center in Riverside said last night that at least 35 helicopters and as many as 22 airplanes had been assigned to drop water and fire retardant in the San Diego region.
“We had a significant increase in air support today, no question about it,” said county Supervisor Ron Roberts, who previously had raised concerns about the scarcity of aircraft. “I am absolutely convinced that everyone ... is trying to do whatever we can to get those assets up.”
A drumbeat of criticism, fanned in part by talk radio, TV news and the Internet, appeared to build during the day over whether the firefighting fleet was fully mobilized. Those concerns may have been heightened by an announcement late yesterday afternoon that the arrival of a giant Canadian seaplane – the privately owned Martin Mars – called in to join the fight had been delayed because of customs issues.
San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman expected the former Navy flying boat, capable of dropping enough water to cover 4 acres in a single pass, to arrive in Southern California last night.
At least 35 helicopters, many of them UH-1H Super Hueys, were already assigned to San Diego fires yesterday, including 15 choppers on the Witch Creek fire and 19 on the Harris blaze, authorities said. At least 22 airplanes worked fires yesterday across the entire Southern California region, many of the based in Ramona or Hemet. Most were S2-T air tankers.
The complaints over the lack of broad air support were similar to those that arose after the start of the Cedar and Paradise fires in October 2003. Roberts and others blamed the problems then on government bureaucracy and poor coordination among agencies.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other officials said yesterday that they had been eager to get more aircraft off the ground in the early hours of this week's blazes.
The problem wasn't red tape, they said. It was Mother Nature.
“Anyone that is complaining about the planes just wants to complain, because that's a bunch of nonsense,” the governor said in a TV interview broadcast Tuesday night. “The fact is that we could have all the planes in the world here – we have 90 aircraft here and six that we got especially from the federal government – and they can't fly because of the wind situation.”
Federal Emergency Management Administration chief R. David Paulison, who was in San Diego yesterday, agreed.
“The bureaucracy was never there, that I saw,” he said. “The issue was the wind.”
On Tuesday, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, said efforts to get military helicopters into the massive firefight were being thwarted by bureaucratic obstacles.
Retired San Diego Fire Chief Jeff Bowman was just as critical when discussing military support, or the lack thereof. He said he watched as Hunter appeared on morning news briefings yesterday to talk about the delay in bringing in massive military planes designed to drop tons of fire retardant.
“Why weren't those pre-positioned here weeks ago?” Bowman asked. “We knew the high-pressure system was building.”
Hunter also said the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, hasn't had enough personnel to operate all of the available military helicopters.
“These are things we dealt with during the Cedar fire,” Bowman said. “And you ask why I'm frustrated.”
Hunter and other elected officials said they had to hammer out special waivers before the Marine Corps and Cal Fire could team up.
One sticking point: a requirement that Cal Fire spotters be in position aboard aircraft during operations. Hunter said the military should be able to carry out operations alone.
Cal Fire Director Ruben Grijalva said last night that he had talked with Hunter late Tuesday.
“I agreed with him. I said, 'We can do more, and we can do better,'” Grijalva said after a news conference with Schwarzenegger yesterday at Steele Canyon High School in Rancho San Diego.
Grijalva said he immediately directed his commanders “to do whatever is necessary to get those military assets into operation, so long as they can do it in a coordinated and a safe manner.”
The Marine Corps had offered up to 20 CH-53 firefighting helicopters as early as Sunday, according to a Miramar news release. But a Marine spokesman said Cal Fire didn't ask for them until Tuesday.
“We were prepared to conduct missions before that, but we had not received any requests at that time,” said Maj. Jason Johnston, a Miramar Marine Corps Air Station spokesman. “I do know that, once the request came, we were able to respond.”
But he agreed that Cal Fire might have faced chaos had it pressed every available aircraft into service at once.
“A lot of people think you can just throw all your assets into the air,” he said.
Despite the delay that affected the Marines, the Navy was given permission to launch two MH-60S Seahawk firefighting helicopters based at North Island Naval Air Station about noon Monday, a Navy spokesman said. That was the earliest time wind conditions allowed them to fly.
“We were happy to be brought in very early – in fact, right away,” said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for the San Diego-based Naval Air Forces command.
The helicopters carry buckets that can dump 420 gallons of water.
Six Navy helicopters flew Tuesday and five yesterday.
Six Air National Guard aircraft – C-130 tankers – were reported en route to the San Diego yesterday from military bases in Wyoming, North Carolina and Colorado.
The fierce weather conditions dictated Cal Fire's decision to ground aircraft, said Tom Humann, Cal Fire's aviation safety officer.
He said the military offered an unexpectedly large number of aircraft. That's when Cal Fire came up with a plan to use one spotter for several aircraft.
“Our agency works as best we can. We always adapt and overcome,” Humann said. “Cal Fire is using every resource at its disposal.”
Staff writers Steve Liewer, Tony Manolatos, Chris Moran and Onell R. Soto contributed to this report.