Posted on 06/26/2012 10:42:18 PM PDT by george76
Green agenda targets slurry bombers
As fire rages out of control on the edge of Colorado Springs, threatening lives and property, it is time we listen to those who have warned us about the negative effect environmentalists and President Barack Obama have had on the federal government’s ability to fight fires.
Much of what’s burning is the Pike National Forest, which is federal property. Yet it took almost three days to get federal fire fighting aircraft off the ground to begin dumping meaningful loads of slurry to slow the fire’s growth. Because the Forest Service has a shortage of planes, Air Force C-130s finally joined the effort Monday afternoon to battle a fire that began Saturday morning.
Part of the problem is red tape and vague policy regarding use of military aircraft to put out fires, even when they burn federal property. Part of it involves intentional interference with aerial fire suppression. Part of the problem is the Obama administration.
Environmentalists have fought the use of slurry for years, which may or may not explain why Obama seems to lack enthusiasm for a robust tanker fleet
...
in September of 2011 that nearly half of the federal government’s air tankers sat idle at a California airport, as wildfires ripped through national forests throughout California, Texas, New Mexico, and other states.
It turns out the Obama administration ended a long-standing contract, leaving the Forest Service with only 11 tankers to battle 50 wildfires that were burning nationwide. A decade ago, the Forest Service had 40 firefighting tankers.
The Obama administration canceled the government’s contract with Aero Union — a company with 60 employees that had been under contract with the Forest Service for 50 years. Though it canceled that contract, the administration had no plan for an immediate replacement.
(Excerpt) Read more at gazette.com ...
Obama - just doing his part:
Al-Qaida touts forest arson as terrorism
5/3/12
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2879837/posts
If a decade ago, that means Bush was involved, also. Either way, this is a Fedgov responsibility. I hope that all those who have lost their homes sue the Fedgov for reparations. It's time we hold them ALL accountable.
The Obama administration’s neglect of the federal government’s aerial-tanker fleet raises acrid questions about its core public-safety priorities. Bipartisan complaints goaded the White House into signing a Band-Aid fix last week. But it smacks more of election-year gesture politics: too little, too late, too fake.
Ten years ago, the feds had a fleet of 44 firefighting planes. Today, the number is down to nine for the entire country. Last summer, Obama’s National Forest Service canceled a key federal contract with Sacramento-based Aero Union just as last season’s wildfires were raging. Aero Union had supplied eight vital air tankers to Washington’s dwindling fleet of aerial firefighters. Two weeks later, the company closed down and 60 employees lost their jobs. Aero Union had been a leader in the business for a half-century.
If it is bad for America, Obama is for it. As soon as he knows for sure he is going to be out of his free vacation, he will go ape crazy.
We don’t need Al-Qaida setting fires we have the Forest Service doing the job quite well thank you!
California company did not meet agency’s safety standards
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2011–The U.S. Forest Service announced today that it has terminated its contract with Aero Union of Sacramento, Calif., because the company failed to meet its contractual obligations. The company was providing six airtankers under exclusive-use contracts to the Forest Service.
"Our main priority is protecting and saving lives, and we can't in good conscience maintain an aviation contract where we feel lives may be put at risk due to inadequate safety practices” said Tom Harbour, director of the Forest Service’s Fire and Aviation Management program. “This contract termination notwithstanding, we possess the aircraft support needed for this year's fire season."
The Forest Service has access to additional aviation assets to meet operational needs. Two other private companies provide 11 large airtankers under exclusive-use contracts. In addition, there are two very large airtankers available through a “call when needed” contract, as well as eight military firefighting aircraft.
The five-year contract the Forest Service signed with Aero Union in 2008 required participation in a continued airworthiness program, which included a Fatigue and Damage Tolerance Evaluation and structural inspection program. In April 2011, Aero Union informed the Forest Service that the Federal Aviation Administration found the company was not in compliance with its mandated structural inspection program requirements.
Because of the extraordinary stresses placed on aircraft during aerial firefighting and to prevent catastrophic failures and ensure safety, the Forest Service adds requirements to its airtanker contracts that are specific to the agency’s firefighting mission. The Forest Service will not use aircraft that do not meet its requirements.
The mission of the USDA Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The Agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to State and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world.
Why should he care? The forest fire states in the Mountain West lean conservative.
If the Planes were made out of EBT Cards, we would have a million of them.
Heck of a job Brownie(guy).
“Obama - just doing his part:”
Obams’s 2012 campaign motto should be “Every day, in every way we shall destroy the USA!”
Could this turn out with over 400 homes burned in CO and NM to be O’s Katrina?
A 12%
B 6%
C 4%
D 17%
F 60%
Total Votes: 169
95% of America will never hear about it.
>>>If a decade ago, that means Bush was involved, also.>>>
No, it doesn’t. It says only that ten years ago the government had 40 fire-fighter planes, and that Obama severed the contract which reduced the number to 11.
Part of the problem is that the big firetanker aircraft are VERY old. Companies like Aero Union and Hawkins and Powers were using surplus World War II bombers well up into the 1980s and 1990s. For a while, one of the firefighting companies was using USAF surplus C-130As built in the 1950s until the wings ripped off one of them during a run, killing the crew. And aerial firefighting is extremely hard on the airframes as well; it’s well outside the realm of what the planes were designed to do, with a lot of bumpy low-altitude flight and hard maneuvers that put a lot of wear and tear on wings and tails.
There is a serious shortage of large firefighting aircraft, that’s a big part of the problem. The Aero Union cancellation may have been politically motivated, and there may be green Nazis behind the lack of replacements. But there also just aren’t very many tankers left in that big four-engined DC-6 or C-130 class. And I don’t think the Air Force will sell their surplus stored out in boneyards like Davis-Monthan to private contractors.
}:-)4
Conservatives still in the state, need to suck it up and also enjoy your consequences OR MOVE THE F*** ON!!
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