An Absolute Bunch Of Jerks...

[thedrifter]

An Absolute Bunch Of Jerks...

Commentary by
Raoul Lowery Contreras (Raoul Lowery Contreras'
columns are syndicated by the New York Times Syndicate, New American News service.)
November 5, 2003

A few days ago, I opened my front door at 9:00 in the morning and could see no sun; the sky was black with smoke. During the next 96-hours, over 2000 homes would be burned to the ground, 20 people killed and almost 300,000 acres of my county burned to ashes.

While this was going on, United States Navy and United States Marine helicopter pilots, all trained to fight fires with their aircraft, sat on the ground.

While this was going on, Sheriff helicopter pilots were flying and begging for fire retardant drops by state and federal helicopters. Their begging was for naught.

State fire fighting officials denied permission to the military pilots in the first 72 hours of the killer fires because state officials, led by Governor Gray Davis? appointee, Andrea Tuttle, declared that the conditions didn't ?lend themselves? to the military?s fire fighting abilities.

Andrea Tuttle heads up the California Department of Forestry (CDF). She has never worked in the field. She has a doctorate in Environmental Studies. Nonetheless, she was in charge, wearing a nice uniform, too.

According to published reports, three Navy helicopter units immediately set up to fight fires on Sunday morning, 12 hours after the fire began. They flew to the world?s most active fire fighting base, that of the CDF at Ramona, 40 miles from downtown San Diego.

?The crews were told they didn't have the department?s (CDF) permission to fight the fire,? the San Diego Union reported. The same rebuff occurred on Monday.

CDF has confirmed they didn't permit the military pilots permission to fight the fires outside the City of San Diego.

San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts, after discussing the issues with CDF officials, called them ?an absolute bunch of jerks.?

Roberts told the San Diego Union that CFD officials told him, ?Navy pilots had to be certified by the CDF and that the state had to verify the helicopters? maintenance records before allowing them to fly.?

In other words, the CDF has a union contract with its employees to protect their jobs. No outside forces can be used to fight fires, including volunteers, until certain protocols are followed which, of course, means among other things, union rules.

CDF spokesman David Wheeler states: ?Agencies use local resources, then turn to the county, then the state level before turning to the federal government, which is the last resort.? What he didn't state is that even if the entire county is burning, as it was in San Diego on Sunday and Monday, the federals can't fight until they are ?certified? by union officials collecting pay as CDF officials.

Moreover, union rules prohibit state fire fighting helicopter and plane pilots from fighting fires unless under orders from these very same union officials. If a pilot disregards those rules in an attempt to save lives and property, he can and will be fired from his job.

Here is the factual situation involved. Yes, fires were raging in the Los Angeles County?s Simi Valley and in San Bernardino County before the San Diego fires started. Yes, most state resources were already tied up in fighting those fires, as were fire fighting units from San Diego working those fires under a mutual assistance pact.

There were no state air fire fighting units available in San Diego while hundreds of homes were burning, except, of course, for the U.S. Navy units standing by, on their own volition, at the fire fighting airport in Ramona. Additionally, six Marine Corps helicopters sat on the ground at Camp Pendleton, where, coincidentally, they had just successfully fought a giant fire on the base. Two gargantuan Air Force C-130 fire fighting planes sat on the ground at the Navy?s Pt. Mugu Naval Station north of Santa Barbara, 50-minutes from the fires and two more sat on the ground at Colorado Springs.

The CDF did not request these federal planes and only allowed the Navy pilots to fly on Wednesday and Marine helicopters on Thursday, five days after the fire started. In the meanwhile, over 2000 homes were burned to the ground; an entire National Forest destroyed and 20 people, including one Northern California fireman, dead.

When Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger is sworn in as California?s new Governor, his first act should be to fire Andrea Tuttle and everyone he can at the CDF who was involved in denying military helicopter fire fighting units to fly in San Diego?s firestorm.

Then, Governor Schwarzenneger should turn to Attorney General Bill Lockyer and order him to convene a criminal grand jury to investigate the CDF?s actions.

Criminal? Yes. People died because Navy and Marine pilots were ordered not to fly and fight killer fires because union officials needed to check maintenance records of Navy helicopters.


Sempers,

Roger

[BLUEHAWK]

Jesus Roger!

So, I guess if we get invaded by a land force over a border, the States are supposed to send in the local cops... because the Marines are not "CERTIFIED" by them to protect jurisdictions and are not union members!!!!

Dang, all along here I thought we were ALL part of THE Union!

Where, oh where has common sense actually gone...

I think Ms. Tuttle needs an Article 32.

[Jerry D]

Or at least an Article 99 I agree Arnie needs to get that AG to do some real work for the state of California insted of the AG trying to find some criminal code Arnie broke fondeling women when he was a hyped up Muscle Builder (Mr.America/Olympia) I figure his majority vote should have ended that witch hunt by now.