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Antonovich Calls U.S. Forest Service Failure to Approve Aerial Firefighting Policies ‘Stupid’
Arcadia Weekly Jul 12, 2012
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In the attached letter to the United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich expressed his disappointment in the 3-year delay by U. S. Forest Service to change its ban on nighttime water-dropping flights to combat wildfires.
“It has been nearly three years since the Station Fire devastated most of the Angeles National Forest and killed two Los Angeles County firefighters, and the U. S. Forest service continues to ignore experts’ recommendations to change its nighttime aerial firefighting policy,” Antonovich said.
Recently, Tom Harbor, the Forest Service’s National Director of Fire and Aviation Management, said that his agency was revaluating a policy change to determine if it would be “the right kind of investment” for taxpayers. “This delay is stupid and making it worse as we are on the brink of the fire season and another potential for catastrophic losses,” Antonovich added.
In the letter, Antonovich refers to the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Station Fire report that recommends the Forest Service utilize nighttime air attacks to prevent future catastrophes as well as procedural changes, tougher brush clearance requirements and the use of mechanized firefighting equipment.
Antonovich also noted that Congressional hearings and the Government Accountability Office concluded that the Forest Service’s procedural and communication failures during the Station Fire forced other agencies to delay their fire-fighting operations.
“Ineffective at fighting wildfires on the urban-wildlife interface, their prohibition of night-flying aircraft prevented early containment as County Fire pilots waited anxiously on the tarmac,” Antonovich said. “It is imperative that significant structural changes are immediately made before the next major wildfire destroys more lives, personal property and our national forest.”
