Los Angeles Fires!

N2056

N2056

Charter Member
I've been watching this on the news all morning...a fire that started last night in the Sylmar area north of downtown LA has shut down assorted freeways, destroyed many homes, and is disrupting electrical service. Another has started in the Corona area and is apparently threatening homes. The weather conditions have been very dry, warm, and windy causing a 'Red Flag' fire danger warning for all of Southern California.
 
My boss couldn't get to work today. Got cut off by the freeway closures.
From the hangar one can see the Sylmar fire, smoke, airtankers, etc.
LA County Air Ops is based at my airport, and they were busy!
 
good luck to all you socal people....im in norcal and we had our share of bad ones earlier...one large one 12 miles from me.....nasty stuff
 
I'm torn here. I feel bad for those that lose there homes. However, you'd think that there would be controlled burns from time to time, to curb these problems.

I don't live in the LA area, so I'm not sure about the validity of my next statement, so please forgive me if I'm off base. I blame those same home owners for not pushing for more involvement by the responsible agencies to abate the problems before their houses burn down.

I don't think there are really dedicated (built for the purpose) fire fighting aircraft in that section of the country either. I know there's a P-3 and some warbirds, but nothing along the lines of the CL-215/415 to really fight the fires. Why? Certainly money is a factor, but given that there are multi-million dollar homes going up in flames, wouldn't a fire fighter pay for itself pretty quickly when compared to insurance rates and replacement costs of those homes?

This occurrance is a broken record. We hear the same thing over and over again. Isn't it way past time to do something about it?

I'm off my soapbox now... Thanks for listening.
 
Railrunner130 said:
I'm torn here. I feel bad for those that lose there homes. However, you'd think that there would be controlled burns from time to time, to curb these problems.

I don't live in the LA area, so I'm not sure about the validity of my next statement, so please forgive me if I'm off base. I blame those same home owners for not pushing for more involvement by the responsible agencies to abate the problems before their houses burn down.

I don't think there are really dedicated (built for the purpose) fire fighting aircraft in that section of the country either. I know there's a P-3 and some warbirds, but nothing along the lines of the CL-215/415 to really fight the fires. Why? Certainly money is a factor, but given that there are multi-million dollar homes going up in flames, wouldn't a fire fighter pay for itself pretty quickly when compared to insurance rates and replacement costs of those homes?

This occurrance is a broken record. We hear the same thing over and over again. Isn't it way past time to do something about it?

I'm off my soapbox now... Thanks for listening.
Click to expand...
as far as control burns..those are far and few between so to speak in california thanks to enviromentalists...they do happen..but not very often and usually only on the forests..not near populated areas because of the smoke "bothering" the popuation...

as far as dedicated aircraft..this has been argued before.CALFIRE has a fleet of Grumman S2T tracker air tankers..they carry 1200 gallons of retardant with a computer controled drop system...aero union has the lockheed P3A orions with 3000 gallons..and then there is the DC7 with 3000 gallons and the P2V and the SP2V with 2000 gallons each...these are privately owned..but on call ,and ive seen the S2T's and P3A's in use this weekend....as far as the CL215/415....yes they are a good ac for its purpose...BUT one thing alot of people dont realise about the water dropping air craft vs retardant dropping aircraft....water dropped drop ON the flame and are very use spicific....retardant planes can and are supposed to PRETREAT...but can also go direct on open flame...so they are accually more effective than the water only ac...

flame away
 
been watching this morning...the DC10 is working and ive also seen a C130..couldnt tell if it was tanked or MAFFS....it wasnt military..or didnt seem to be..it was an off yellow and white
 
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