Retired Gifford Pinchot forest supervisor, Ted Stubblefield, took me to task for some quotes in a recent nation-wide AP story regarding the quiet resurrection of the “out-by-10-a.m.” wildfire suppression policy.
I was struck by the tinge of Socialism in his essay, such as this remark:
In his [Stahl’s] reference to the lost homes in the Colorado blazes, he fails to mention that many of those homes were built deep within the woods on purchased mining claims, where no fire protection is afforded, regardless of policy, and many of the homeowners expected the Forest Service to treat the forest surrounding their new homes with public monies, because they could not get insurance coverage.
I wonder how these mining-claim homeowners obtain financing for their mortgages without proof of fire protection services? Oh yeah, second and vacation homes bought with cash. Let’s subsidize the 1%’s silly choices.
I wondered that about some “homes” around the Kootenai NF as well.