Orange County Fire Chief: "Had We Had More Air Resources, We Would Have Been Able To Control This Fire,"

"If the weather cooperates, maybe we can turn the tide," he said.

Crews were anticipating an injection of additional firefighters and equipment from other states, mostly throughout the West. Frustration over the firefighting effort began to emerge Tuesday when a fire official said not enough had been done to protect homes.

Orange County Fire Chief Chip Prather told reporters that firefighters' lives were threatened because too few crews were on the ground. He said a quick deployment of aircraft could have corralled a massive blaze near Irvine.

"It is an absolute fact: Had we had more air resources, we would have been able to control this fire," he said.

The fires have burned 410,000 acres, or about 640 square miles, causing at least $100 million in damage. Twenty-one firefighters and at least 24 others have been injured. One person was killed by the flames, and the San Diego medical examiner's officer listed four other deaths as connected to the blazes.

Read entire story here.

Comments

[Kungfublood]

You can see again just how slow bush is when he has not been informed months in advance of a "disaster" "we have been preparing for years" claims the Home land in-security director ..well if you were so stinking prepared where the hell were you 4 days ago? The prompt response to 911 was obviously some kind of colossal fluke - or Bush knew in advance.

[dcotter]

Ok DIBS! Lungwort called it. He wins the kitty.

[BillFromDover]

"If the weather cooperates?"

Lotsa luck. What do these people have to look forward to next year?

[JOSEYWALES]

Maybe if the State government would manage the confiscatory tax revenue better, maybe buy enough equipment to fight these yearly blazes instead of giving it away to illegals (oh GOD, I must be a racist) and those to lazy to work and all the other knuckle headed things the loony left spends it on, these fires could be fought properly.

[SanFran1]

A democratic Congress with NO power and a lot of whining to do.

[AnnArky]

Now, if the Governator can just keep FEMA out of the picture we might be able to survive this disaster.

[SanFran1]

Make up you libtard minds. You want fema you don't. Fema took too long, opps they are already there. What a tool.

[Ping]

FEMA basically got in the way during Katrina and accomplished nothing. Only a stupid RePUBlican would be unaware of what happened in NOLA.

[ktpinnacle]

I observed two smaller helicopters dumping water at Foothill Ranch (my home) on Monday. Two small crop dusters were dumping retardant yesterday on the margins of fire as it entered the canyons east of here. No big helicopters, super pumpers or L-1011's here. But there are so many fires.

These firefighters were dog tired on Monday. Can't thank them enough for their knowledge and performance.

[dcotter]

Really? Have you gone out to volunteer your time and help? Offered to bring cases of water/gatorade? Thank them, while sitting on your fat ass posting on Huffy.

[jfredmuggs]

You got room to talk? Why aren't you in Iraq?

Chickenshit

[Kungfublood]

If you are going to offer do not get in your car and drive out to the fire, call the local fire dept. and ask what they need and where you can help .

[SanFran1]

I agree. They are doing a great job.

[outofhere]

Why didn't they just call up the national guard air resources? Oh wait they are probably all over in Iraq.

[Ammobob]

Again, stupidity and ignorance reign supreme here at HuffPO!

[SanFran1]

Already been proven you are a stupid moron. You have no Idea what you are talking about.
Fucking liberal swine leaking at the mouth.

[Fuji]

Self-parody much?

[gcmorris]

and that airpower would be where...? the iraq perhaps? the problem with fighting the terrorists "over there" is we have no resources to deal with disasters "over here." when are we going to start using our tax dollars for domestic benefit?

[Ammobob]

Didn't read the post, eh? Towards the bottom it tells you alot more than the HuffPo Lead-in.

[rwe]

What? No , not a misleading , Bush hating , America bashing headline.

[Brgotn]

The aircraft that is used to fight fires is specially modified to do the job. Don't play the Iraq game.

[lungwort]

Time to start blaming Bush...1-2-3 GO.

[dcotter]

They don't know they have state governments for these things.

[kenlog]

http://www.screamingpoints.com/archives/idiot-genius.jpg

[dcotter]

So THAT'S why you all converge here!

[IntelligentDesign]

Pretty weak attempt at diversion and obfuscation - Bush is responsible for misrepresenting and fabricating in the run up to the Iraq war, and all that has wrought, which when strung together makes him guilty of the most heinous crimes that a human being can commit against his fellow man, punishable by hanging until dead - that's the real deal.

[dcotter]

blah blah blah blah blah.

[rbspickles]

OK, I will. If California's National Guard and most of it's equipment used for calamities like these fires weren't in Iraq, these fires probably wouldn't have even came close to the size that they are today......YES...BUSH'S FAULT....AGAIN!

[SanFran1]

Your an idiot. So go tell the close to 2000 national Guard patrolling as you leak shit from you mouth. You're a tool.

[heardingcats]

Listen up folks. SoCal has a fire season and it is now. The hillsides and back country need to burn - it is part of the natural order. Many of the plant species will not re-germinate until a fire burns through the area. Idealy about every deacade or so.

The biggest problems were caused by the budget cuts for fire management. Controlled burns in the past helped prevent the magnitude of the vegetative build-up we are now seeing.

This was not caused by the environmentalists and it was not caused by the logging industry.
Governmental budget cuts in the funding is the cause.

Fires are just part of the mystic of living here in SoCal; you learn to accept it and prepare for it the best you can. Kinda like learning to live with tornadoes in the plains and hurricanes along the southern states and east coasts.

Preparations is key.

[Beelzebul]

"1-2-3 GO."


1-2-3-4-5 GO. That's how many times Cheney said "GO" fuck yourself to the military back in the 60s.

[rwe]

Oh , Ok agent orange between the ears....Seems that the military overwhelmingly showed by their votes they preferred VP Cheney than photo-op Kerry.

[Firaxis]

Oh, here it comes, the liberal lament, "But it's all over in Iraq"

Gawd

[cowboyjerkface]

Funny...the first person to point that out was in fact a conservative who is always bashing liberals....and yet he is the first to tell us where it all is....guilt complex possibly or just a freudian slip of the brain?

I, for one, will not blame anyone....these things happen in nature.

[Beelzebul]

"But it's all over in Iraq"


True. That scam war was destined to fail from the get-go.

[Fuji]

Reduced casualties, OBL admitting that things aren't going well there ...

[kingcityguru]

Think of all the CO2 being released.

The US MUST move its electrical production from nuclear energy to at least the 80 % level achieved by France. CO2 and air pollution free.

Industrialization cannot be stopped around the world, but the production of CO2 and air pollution can be stopped through the use of nuclear energy.

[Firaxis]

You'll never get that by the envirowackos who all worship Algore as the Second Coming.

They want us to flush less, shower less and drive Yugos.

[VOTER]

You have been given permission TO FLUSH MORE OFTEN.

[GladysKnightsPIP]

NO, we want you Americans to eat more until you explode.

Lugging 100 pounds of fat around cost loads of money in decreased mileage in your SUV's, heart disease which is much more dangerous than smoking and causes premature death (in the case of Americans that might be good for the rest of us).

[Doug]

Well you can blame decades decades of blocking nuclear energy.

[BreadandRoses]

No.
As usual, dougie, you are completely wrong.

[Beelzebul]

"Well you can blame decades decades of blocking nuclear energy"


That's exactly what Ahmadinejad is telling Bush.