Meeting: Wildfire panel to study using military chopper

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Meeting: Wildfire panel to study using military chopper

Wildfire panel to study using military choppers

SAN DIEGO: At a meeting yesterday of the Regional Fire Protection Committee, San Diego's fire chief said she expects the next major wildfire to break out in five years.

“We can all see the hillsides – they're green and the grass is growing,” Chief Tracy Jarman said. “Eventually, it's going to be dry out and be an issue for us.”

The nine-member committee, formed in response to the October 2007 wildfires, is trying to figure out how to better prepare the region for the next firestorm.

Yesterday, the board formed a subcommittee to investigate a number of potential changes, including the use of military helicopters.

Only Cal Fire, the state fire agency, is authorized to dispatch military helicopters used to make water drops.

Subcommittee members – Jarman; Bill Metcalf, chief of the North County Fire Protection District; and Carlsbad Fire Chief Kevin Crawford – were asked to find out if it is possible to draft agreements that would allow local fire officials direct access to military helicopters.

Source: SoSD

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****REMINDER**** Every fire has the ability to be catastrophic. The wildland fire management environment has profoundly changed. Growing numbers of communities, across the nation, are experiencing longer fire seasons; more frequent, bigger, and more severe, fires are a real threat. Be careful with all campfires and equipment.

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

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Saturday, March 1, 2008