thedrifter
10-24-07, 07:52 AM
This time military choppers will aid fire effort
By Lisa Petrillo and Michael Smolens
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
1:05 a.m. October 24, 2007
SAN DIEGO – For four years San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts has been trying to make sure the red tape didn't keep the military aircraft from jumping into action during the next local disaster.
During the 2003 Cedar fire, military aircraft at Miramar Marine Corps airfield sat idle while in full sight of the flames devastating nearby Scripps Ranch. Bureaucratic controversies kept military resources from at first joining the battle against what became the worst fire in state history.
Now a full four days after the latest wildfires began, military helicopters will be flying to the rescue, officials announced Tuesday night.
The word came at a news conference Tuesday featuring Roberts and representatives from San Diego's congressional delegation. They said that up to 19 military helicopters will be fighting the spreading flames by Wednesday morning.
“It shouldn't take an act of Congress – but it did,” Roberts said.
The lack of airpower has hurt efforts to beat back the wildfires, officials said, because both high winds and a lack of specially trained pilots kept vital air resources grounded.
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter said he and Rep. Darrell Issa wrested the necessary waivers from the U.S. Marine Corps and Cal Fire to allow military aircraft into the fight.
Hunter, R-Alpine, credited Issa, R-Vista, along with the full county congressional delegation for taking part in the negotiations, including representatives from Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.
“Here we are facing one of the greatest fires in the history of this state. We're sending (military) pilots into war and we won't let them drop water?” said a frustrated Roberts. “The offense to common sense is staggering.”
Hunter would not detail how testy negotiations got, saying only, “What's important is that we had a firm conversation and the end of it the answer was yes.”
Hunter blamed state fire officials for delaying Marine helicopters at Miramar from helping fight the fires menacing San Diego County.
But California Fire Marshal Kate Dargan said Tuesday night that officials at Cal Fire were following procedures worked out with the military after serious problems with air coordination during the 2003 wildfires.
Hunter had said the choppers couldn't get into the air until Cal Fire spotters were in position. He said the military knows how to do these operations on its own and should have been allowed to do so.
Dargan, during a fire briefing teleconference, noted that there is now a plan in place to work out air space and coordination issues with the Marines. If Hunter is saying the copter pilots should have freelanced and tossed the plan out the window, she said, “That may be a different story.”
Asked pointedly about whether overall federal firefighting resources were slow in coming, Dargan and other state officials defended the feds. Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the governor 'is getting everything he needs from the federal government.'
Ellie
By Lisa Petrillo and Michael Smolens
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
1:05 a.m. October 24, 2007
SAN DIEGO – For four years San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts has been trying to make sure the red tape didn't keep the military aircraft from jumping into action during the next local disaster.
During the 2003 Cedar fire, military aircraft at Miramar Marine Corps airfield sat idle while in full sight of the flames devastating nearby Scripps Ranch. Bureaucratic controversies kept military resources from at first joining the battle against what became the worst fire in state history.
Now a full four days after the latest wildfires began, military helicopters will be flying to the rescue, officials announced Tuesday night.
The word came at a news conference Tuesday featuring Roberts and representatives from San Diego's congressional delegation. They said that up to 19 military helicopters will be fighting the spreading flames by Wednesday morning.
“It shouldn't take an act of Congress – but it did,” Roberts said.
The lack of airpower has hurt efforts to beat back the wildfires, officials said, because both high winds and a lack of specially trained pilots kept vital air resources grounded.
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter said he and Rep. Darrell Issa wrested the necessary waivers from the U.S. Marine Corps and Cal Fire to allow military aircraft into the fight.
Hunter, R-Alpine, credited Issa, R-Vista, along with the full county congressional delegation for taking part in the negotiations, including representatives from Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.
“Here we are facing one of the greatest fires in the history of this state. We're sending (military) pilots into war and we won't let them drop water?” said a frustrated Roberts. “The offense to common sense is staggering.”
Hunter would not detail how testy negotiations got, saying only, “What's important is that we had a firm conversation and the end of it the answer was yes.”
Hunter blamed state fire officials for delaying Marine helicopters at Miramar from helping fight the fires menacing San Diego County.
But California Fire Marshal Kate Dargan said Tuesday night that officials at Cal Fire were following procedures worked out with the military after serious problems with air coordination during the 2003 wildfires.
Hunter had said the choppers couldn't get into the air until Cal Fire spotters were in position. He said the military knows how to do these operations on its own and should have been allowed to do so.
Dargan, during a fire briefing teleconference, noted that there is now a plan in place to work out air space and coordination issues with the Marines. If Hunter is saying the copter pilots should have freelanced and tossed the plan out the window, she said, “That may be a different story.”
Asked pointedly about whether overall federal firefighting resources were slow in coming, Dargan and other state officials defended the feds. Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the governor 'is getting everything he needs from the federal government.'
Ellie