Two suspects arrested for looting fire station during Camp Fire

DePalma And Erlbacher
Robert DePalma, 59, left, and William Erlbacher, 39,  right, of Concow, CA. CAL FIRE photo.

CAL FIRE reported that two suspects have been arrested for the burglary and looting of a CAL FIRE station during the Camp Fire on November 8.

Robert DePalma and William Erlbacher, both of Concow, California, were arrested on five felony counts including vehicle theft, looting during an emergency, and possession of stolen property.

Their bail is set at $250,000 each.

The fire has killed at least 81 people and destroyed over 13,700 residences in Paradise and other nearby communities in California. About 870 people are still unaccounted for.

Our Opinion:

Looting an evacuated area that has been devastated by a natural disaster is one of the most disgusting, abhorrent, and sleazy crimes there is. But doing it at a facility where public employees are out helping citizens and putting their lives on the line takes it to a repugnant new level. If DePalma and Erlbacher are found guilty they deserve the the most severe sentence allowed under the law.

Secretary of Interior blames “environmental radicals” for California wildfires

Camp Fire
A firing operation on the Camp Fire. Inciweb photo. Click to enlarge.

Ryan Zinke, like his boss President Trump, blamed something other than the extreme wind, low humidity, and drought for the two recent devastating wildfires in California that have killed 80 people.

Below is an excerpt from an article at The Hill:

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke blamed “environmental radicals” for the California wildfires that have killed at least 77 people, saying they stop forest management practices that could have prevented the fires.

Days after touring the damage of the Camp fire, the deadliest in California’s history, Zinke went on Breitbart News Sunday and declared “it’s not the time for finger-pointing” on the causes of the fires.

But minutes later, he put the blame squarely on environmentalists, contending that they stood in the way of clearing brush, doing prescribed burns and other actions.

“I will lay this on the foot of those environmental radicals that have prevented us from managing the forests for years. And you know what? This is on them,” Zinke said.

While touring the Camp and Woolsey Fires Saturday Mr. Trump reiterated at every stop that he believes forest management in California was the key issue in preventing devastating fires, and threatened to cut fire funding for the state. He mentioned the “forest nation” of Finland as a good example that spends “a lot of time raking and cleaning….”

The fatality count on the Camp Fire east of Chico rose again Sunday as search teams found another set of human remains to bring the total loss of life to 77, with 993 unaccounted for. The current tally for the number of homes destroyed is 11,990, and acres burned, 151,000. The number of commercial structures burned rose from 367 to 472.

The remains of three individuals have been found in the Woolsey Fire at Malibu, California. That fire has burned 96,949 acres and 1,130 structures.

An introduction to the Cobra Air Attack helicopter

Cobra air attack helicopter firewatch
Pilot Morgan Mills talks about the USFS Cobra air attack helicopter.

In this video pilot Morgan Mills takes us for a walk around a U.S. Forest Service demilitarized Bell AH-1 Cobra Air Attack helicopter. This is one of two currently flying for the agency. He explains the roles and capabilities of this amazing machine.

We have written about the Firewatch Cobras several times in articles tagged “Cobra”.