Forest Service firefighters try to keep flames from jumping Angeles Crest Highway on the critical second day of the Station fire. They did not succeed, and the six-week blaze became the largest in Los Angeles County history, scorching 250 square miles and destroying more than 200 structures. (Al Seib, Los Angeles Times / August 26, 2009)
Here’s the article.
Working in fire suppression seems like a hopeless “darned if you do darned if you don’t” in an atmosphere of intense political pressure (to save money AND put out fires), knowing there’ll be a later maelstrom of finger-pointing and Monday morning quarterbacking, with some threats of personal liability thrown in for good measure. Don’t know how they put up with it, but I’m glad they do.
Thank you, firefighters!
The work of firefighters in the LA Basin would have a much easier time if those forests actually did some meaningful fuels reductions. The San Bernardino NF has been doing as well as can be expected, with their lack of forestry expertise. The Angeles NF was decades behind the curve, with the expectation that they could control any fire that popped up. Firefighter arrogance has raised its head many times in the last decade.
Yes, its hard to find the money and expertise to manage the HUGE fuels buildups, as well as fighting the “chapparal huggers” at work, down there. The LA Times has not mentioned those issues, and takes EVERY opportunity to bash the Forest Service.
If the Station Fire hadn’t burned, the fuels buildups could have represented a HUGE danger to major metropolitan areas. Imagine the Santa Ana winds pushing the fire westward into Pasadena and other communities in the San Fernando Valley. Thousands of homes and over a billion in losses would have occurred, as well as more deaths. Actually, we dodged a bullet! (so to speak)