Flying down to Burbank this morning I could see the smoke from the massive forest fire that has been raging in the hills to the North of Los Angeles since Labor Day. I heard that they beat back the flames using a DC-10 reconfigured for firefighting and while looking for a photo of this jet, I found this video of a 747 in a flight test. Too bad it’s not approved for use.
(this is a NATIONWIDE PROBLEM)
Dear Editor: I want to mention that CalFire (the California firefighting agency) informs me that the DC-10 Supertanker firefighting aircraft has been classified as “NOT AN INITIAL ATTACK AIRCRAFT.” This means the DC-10 has not been, and will not be, used at the beginning of fires until all other methods have failed. I think it’s obvious this is a suicidal policy that ALLOWED the wildfire holocausts in southern California recently when the DC-10 was NOT deployed at the start of the fires, wind or no wind. This policy also appears to be a continuation of the scorched earth policy (see: JBS.org (search: wildfire) seemingly employed by the U.S. Forest Service by their deliberate refusal to use any Supertankers for over 12 years during which time scores of people died horribly and tens of thousands of homes were burned including national defense nuclear facilities.
Supertankers could have saved all that destruction but were never called. We must continue to demand that the DC-10, and Boeing- 747 also, be used as initial attack firefighting aircraft, for if we don’t we’ll be condemned to continuous mega-fires destroying our lives, homes, state, and country by so-called fire officials who apparently value their paychecks, full employment for auxiliary firefighting personnel, sweetheart subcontractors, disaster benefits, and profits from deliberately protracted wildfires more than human life or suffering. This is out of control monstrous bureaucracy that has fed off the charred bodies, homes, and national defense facilities of American citizens for over 12 years and we have to compel CalFire and the U.S. Forest Service by public pressure to use the DC-10, and Boeing-747 to put out fires IMMEDIATELY, and more Supertankers should be built. We can’t allow this deliberate carnage to continue! Call your representatives NOW.
Sincerely,
Ed Nemechek
Landers, Calif.
760-246-8059
([email protected])