On October 13, 2010, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) convened a panel to interrogate gather information from employees of the U. S. Forest Service and other organizations about the management of the Station fire that burned 160,000 acres near Los Angeles in 2009. On Thursday the Congressman will host another meeting with representatives of the Forest Service and the Government Accountability Office to inform residents about his efforts “to learn from what went wrong in the effort to extinguish the fire and implement changes to make sure those mistakes are not repeated”.

During the October meeting there were many questions about the use of air tankers and helicopters on the Station fire, with the implication that heavier use of aircraft during the first 36 hours would have made a significant difference in the suppression efforts. One can assume that this topic will be raised again. There were also questions during the meeting about penny-pinching by the USFS and how that may have affected the management of the fire.

There are rumors floating around that the U.S. Forest Service is leaning toward establishing two night-flying water-dropping helicopters in southern California. Tom Harbour, the Director of Fire and Aviation Management for the USFS, will be at Thursday’s meeting. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say on the subject.

The public meeting will be Thursday, April 28, from 10:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., at the Altadena Library, 600 East Mariposa St., Altadena, CA.

Here are some screen grabs from videos of the October meeting: