Now that the LA Times published the article on Sunday that said the U. S. Forest Service underestimated they threat of the Station fire near Los Angeles on its second day, some local residents are now calling for an investigation about how the resources were assigned early in the fire.

Many of the complaints revolve around how many aircraft were assigned on the second day, and that only three water-dropping helicopters were initially ordered that morning. The media frequently encourages the erroneous belief that if you utilize enough aircraft, a fire will go out, and the public has bought into this belief. Of course aircraft can’t put out a fire; it takes boots on the ground to do that.

It is always a difficult battle to win when you attempt to publicly debate tactics about a very specialized and technical operation, be it a war on the other side of the world or a fire in your own backyard. First you have to educate everyone who is engaged in the debate, but some people are impervious to education on a particular topic once their minds are made up.

My mind is made up, don’t bother me with facts.

Here is an excerpt from the most recent article in the LA Times about the criticism being aimed at the firefighting agencies:

Big Tujunga Canyon residents and others reeling from the Station fire called Monday for a federal investigation into what they termed a poor initial response to the deadly blaze by the U.S. Forest Service.

“It was beyond irresponsibility, beyond neglect,” said Cindy Marie Pain, who lost her Big Tujunga Canyon home to the fire, which broke out in the Angeles National Forest on Aug. 26.

Pain and other residents said they were outraged by a Times article Sunday that reported the Forest Service had underestimated the danger posed by the fire and scaled back an attack on the flames the night before the blaze began to rage out of control.

“When it’s small, that’s when you jump on it,” said Bronwen Aker, a Vogel Flats resident who set up a website, www.angelesrising.org, for fire victims.

Her home was spared, but those of many of her neighbors were destroyed.

“A lot of residents are incredibly embittered about the way it was handled,” Aker said.

Bob Kerstein, who lost a cabin and a house on gold-mining property that his family owns in the forest, said Congress should investigate the Forest Service’s tactics.

“It’s crazy what happened here,” he said. “There are a lot of heroes in this — the firefighters who were on the line. But the people who should be held accountable are the people who made the decision not to put the fire out in the 48 hours after it started.”

Leo Grillo, an actor who runs an animal sanctuary that was threatened by the blaze, said any investigation should also examine the lack of a more aggressive air assault later in the fire, especially when it appeared to have flagged on Day Five.

“They had the golden opportunity to put it out and they didn’t,” he said.

The Times reported that the Forest Service had been confident that the fire was nearly contained on the first day, and the agency decided that evening to order just three water-dropping helicopters to hit the blaze shortly after dawn on its second day — down from five on Day One, documents and interviews show.

The Forest Service also prepared to go into mop-up mode with fewer firefighters on the ground, according to records and officials.

Early in the morning on the second day, the Forest Service realized that three helicopters would not be enough and summoned two more later in the morning, Angeles Forest Fire Chief David Conklin said. More engine companies and ground crews were also deployed, but it would prove too late.

On Day Two, the Los Angeles County Fire Department lent the Forest Service a heli-tanker but denied a request for another smaller chopper — an action that residents say should be reviewed. Chief Deputy John Tripp, the No. 2 official in the county department, said he withheld the second aircraft because he did not believe the fire was endangering neighborhoods near its suspected ignition point above La Cañada Flintridge, and because the county must hold on to some helicopters for other emergencies.

Thanks Dick