"pyjamarama" wrote in message
...
For anyone who thinks that government isn't intrusive enough...



State firefighters rejected air drop request for Cedar Fire because of
night regulations

JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press Writer Thursday, October 30, 2003

(10-30) 23:43 PST SAN DIEGO (AP) --

The first helicopter pilot to see the patch of flames that would
become the catastrophic Cedar Fire radioed for aerial water drops, but
state firefighters rejected his request because it came minutes after
such flights had been grounded for the night.

Within hours, the flames cascaded out of control and killed 13
residents between the mountains east of San Diego and the city. It
eventually became the largest wildfire in California history.

Southern California was already besieged by flames Saturday evening
when the San Diego County Sheriff's helicopter went to search for a
lost hunter who allegedly lit a beacon fire.

Pilot Dave Weldon told The Associated Press on Thursday that he saw
state firefighting planes on a nearby airstrip as he approached the
mountains at 110 mph. He called down for help because his dispatcher
had relayed reports of smoke in the area, but he got no response.

That was around 5:45 p.m. A few minutes later, he spotted smoke from
the fire, then only about 50 yards on each side and not spreading.

As he steadied his helicopter against wind gusts, Weldon's concern
mounted. Just before landing, he called for backup, asking another
county helicopter to speed to the scene with its 120-gallon water dump
bucket. And he urged the dispatcher to contact state firefighters and
renew his request for air tankers.

The problem was that under state safety guidelines, no flights can go
up into waning daylight. On Saturday, the cutoff was 5:36 p.m., said
California Department of Forestry Capt. Ron Serabia, who coordinates
the 12 tankers and 10 helicopters now battling the 272,000-acre blaze.

The sun set that day at 6:05 p.m.

The helicopter with the dump bucket flew within five miles of the
fire, before state officials told it to turn back, Weldon said. The
air tankers never took off. Weldon was told crews would attack the
fire in the morning.

"We were basically just offering our assistance fighting their fire,
and they turned it down," said Weldon, who with his partner delivered
the hunter to law enforcement officials who cited him for setting an
unauthorized fire. "I was frustrated about it, but I wasn't
surprised."

Weldon said the county helicopter wouldn't have been allowed to drop
water after dark and said that it alone couldn't have done the job,
but he thought a well-placed drop from the air tanker might have
extinguished the flames.

Let's not forget the fact that the forests are overgrown because a bunch of
left wing idiots are afraid logging companies might make a few bucks by
doing some constructive clearing of trees. Same symtoms as the Florida fire
a few years ago. In some places in Califiornia you can't even cut down
trees on your own property.