Posted on 07/01/2012 10:59:32 AM PDT by Red Steel
As large fires scorch vast tracts of land from Alaska to Colorado and Arkansas, the debate over the nation’s fire-fighting preparedness is also heating up.
The air tanker fleet tasked with the most dangerous mega-fire tasks – think dropping tons of fire-retardant into remote and steep canyons – is under particular scrutiny. Pointing to the fleet’s decade-long decline from some 44 tankers in 2002 to nine at the start of the 2012 fire season, one critic is calling the current situation an “air tanker crisis.”
...late, says former wildland firefighter Bill Gabbert, founder of WildfireToday.com, a fire news blog. He points to numerous fatal crashes, two this year, attributable in part to aircraft age and metal fatigue.
-snip-
“Eight of the nine planes in the core fleet today date back to the Korean War era,” he points out, adding, “We are in a crisis.”
Tidwell suggests there is too much emphasis on the role of the air tanker in fire suppression, adding, “there is this perception that tankers put out fires. But they don’t. Firefighters put out fires.”
However, notes Mr. Gabbert, the large tankers play a critical role in the initial attack on fires. “If we had more tankers, we could avoid the tens of millions of dollars spent when small fires don’t get put out and they turn into mega-fires,” he says.
-snip-
Western foresters are managing over 41 million acres of dead trees caused by the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation, he notes, adding via e-mail, “one of the reasons for this infestation is that years of wildfire suppression has caused growth of dense tree stands with weaker trees that cannot fight off the beetle.”
“The massive tree kill and dead tree density has turned Western wildfires into potential big fire events that can burn for weeks.”
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
we dont have the resources to save our national treasures, we are too busy saving Iraq and Afghanistan
Don’t forget that islamic terrorists have specifically targeted western forests for arson, including this year.
Can’t let a crisis go to waste you know.
in just three years, Obama has destroyed our once thriving auto industry, our military victories in Iraq and Afghanistan, our military and has not only permitted the Mountain Pine Beetle to destroy all of our forests, but has gutted our air tanker fleet from 44 to 9.
Evergreen Aviation has 747 tankers that can drop water or retardant in massive quantities.
It and other planes have been sitting idle while the eco fecal freaks in the White hut ring their hands over the possibility of dead fish from dropped fire retardant.
The victims in Colorado should sue all the aholes involved in withholding these tools that could have been used to fight these fires in Colorado and around the country.
Evergreen's 747 Supertanker
747 Super Tanker Fire figther
There are hundreds if not thousands of pre-747-400 models that will never be flown for revenue again ,, too fuel hungry.. there is absolutely no reason why they couldn’t be formed into a tanker fleet at less than the cost of one Solyndra..
Uncle Obama promised more gifts from socialism during his recent speech, so there will be more tankers and firepersons for the socialist elite: NIMBY, sole arbiters of nature, living on fat government incomes.
The gang administering our federal government does not believe this country worthy of such things as national treasures.
They believe this country to be a disgrace and a worldwide embarassment. Consequently, they work hard every day to "fundamentally transform" it.
Yes that is correct. Aircraft available have been drastically reduced. Aircraft “too old” and losses from crashes. But, do not worry...the government will “protect” us
Obama has done a lot of evil things, the beetle situation isn't one of them however.
That began with the elimination of DDT with the political pressures from other members of the Liberal Left, the enviro-nazis.
They then prevent removing the dead trees by loggers.
This fire, even though it burned an amazing 360 homes, is but a tiny start of what is going to happen in CO. When the devistation caused by the enviro-nazis really lights up, you'll be able to see it from your back porch, no matter where you live. That's how bad the situation is.
The only 'good' side of all this is that the Liberal enclaves of the Liberal wealth aren't immune to the beetle-kill, and they will burn too.
The enviro-nazis are still smug little bastards in power, and are undoubtedly drinking a toast, or smoking a joint in celebration of a fire that's still 70% uncontained.
The US Forest Service, which helped caused this problem, is 'manned' by people who's IQ is not allowed to be over 85.
By way of example, earlier this year they did a 'controlled burn' during a high wind period, with recorded winds up to 95 mph. I was surprised that that one only burned a few thousand acres, instead of the 5 they set out to burn.
I doubt it's ever, even once, occurred to them that that THEIR homes are going to burn too.
Not if, but when.
Colorado Springs is an extremely conservative area.
Even though it was conceived, designed, and built by conservatives, the effectiveness of the Super Tanker is the biggest obstacle to it ever being used here.
It will be used for the first time in CO when the fires threaten Liberal places like Aspen or Winter Park.
Ironic, isn’t, The tools conservatives, conceived, designed, built, and paid for, NOT being used until it benefits Liberals?
Well aware since Colorado has been home for over 50 years.
It will be used for the first time in CO when the fires threaten Liberal places like Aspen or Winter Park.
Well if the fire west of Boulder comes over the top of Flagstaff, John "Van Jones is a rock star" Chickenlooper, Michael "Jeff Spicoli" Bennet, Mark "dumber than dirt" Udall, Ed "I'm here to help wearing my flak jacket" Perlmutter and Jared "the homo" Polis will be tripping over one another racing to find a TV camera to plea for more tankers.
How many cold war B-52s are parked in the desert mothball fleet?
I would think that a “buff” could haul a lot of that pink stuff for quite a distance once retrofitted from their original role of lugging nukes around. They are old, but were one heck of an airplane and I think a lot of them were retired long before they were used up.
The military probably has a lot of salvagable airplanes gathering dust due to some “peace treaty” or another which might be demilitarized and put to good use.
Then again the environazis and moonbats probably want America to burn down... all except for their exclusive enclaves of course.
They will say they didn’t. You see, what they did was to cancel the contract with Aerounion on the grounds of poor maintenance for one thing. Not entirely true. Aerounion self-reported to the feds that they were falling behind on maintenance because they were flying too much.
On top of this the fed bean counters will not enter into long term or fixed minimum contracts. They want the tanker outfits to give them a rate for a call out contract with no specified minimum but then want the tanker folks to meet all kinds of costly requirements. Tankers have only one purpose, fight fires. It takes a certain amount to keep them running and it has to be met or they will not function when needed.
Kinda like a fire truck. How would it work out if the FD just got paid by the fire on a fixed fee basis no matter how many fires there are? Some years there would be more than enough to keep the trucks maintained and other years nothing or near nothing. It wouldn’t work.
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