DENVER – When a Colorado wildfire rages out of control — as with the
16 fires last year that destroyed 647 homes and killed six people —
authorities call the U.S. Forest Service for aerial support dropping
slurry and water on the blaze.
“It’s not a matter of if, it is a matter of when,” said Sen. Cheri
Jahn D-Wheat Ridge. “And when we make that phone call to the federal
government, that we have a fire and we need assistance, you hope they
can show up.”
Jahn and Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, plan to introduce a bill
next week creating a state fleet of aircraft to fight fires.
In a perfect world, King said Colorado would have three air tankers,
three command and control planes and three or four helicopters.
“We don’t have any of that,” he said. “What we have is 4 million
acres of dead trees, dead biomass. We have hopefully the end of a very
long drought. We have the 2012 fire season rolling right into the 2013
season.”
The lawmakers plan to introduce a bill detailing the program, which
would leave about 40 days of the legislative session to address the
issue.
The U.S. Forest Service has a fleet of tanker planes, privately owned
and contracted by the agency, dating from the 1950s that respond to
wildfires across the nation.
Jahn said that fleet has dwindled from 44 planes a decade ago to
nine, leaving officials in fire-prone Western states wondering what
happens when resources are tapped.
Calls to the Forest Service on Thursday were not immediately returned.
The authors of the bill are developing a budget for the project and a
timeline for implementation. It’s urgent, though, they said, given a
2013 wildfire season that burst into flames before the first day of
spring.
“We are one lighting strike, one careless match throw, one terrorist
intentional match throw away from a catastrophic wildfire in Colorado,”
King said. “God help us if that is in one of our watersheds.”
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection owns a
fleet of 58 aircraft including 23 air tankers that can hold water or the
red fire retardant known as slurry.
King said the California agency estimates the cost of the air program
is $1.5 million a plane, per year, including pilots, fuel and slurry.
King wouldn’t estimate how many planes a smaller state like Colorado
would need, but given his perfect-world scenario with nine aircraft it
could run the state around $9 million a year, not including purchasing
the planes.
King said the federal government might provide the aircraft to the
state, which is what happened when California launched the program.
Leaders of both the Senate Democrats and Republicans support the
bill. Both are from Colorado Springs and talked about watching the Waldo
Canyon fire encroach on the city, where it destroyed 346 homes and
killed two people.
“If we don’t get to them quickly, every fire has the potential to
turn into a Waldo Canyon,” Senate Republican Leader Bill Cadman said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service is attempting to address the
issue, awarding a contract in June for seven modern tankers to help
fight fires across the country. However, that contract has been mired in
a squabble over how it was awarded and planes have yet to be delivered.
Another possible source for help is the C-130 fleet owned by the Department of Defense.
During the Waldo Canyon fire, two of the C-130s sat at the Peterson
Air Force Base for 48 hours before jumping into action, joining the
Forest Service tankers.
Officials are trying to change a law that allows military
aircraft to assist only when all other resources have been expended.
The change would mean the eight C-130s across the nation could be called
into action sooner and more often.
Story and Video: http://www.gazette.com
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