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A fleet of P-3 Orions, vital to the nations ability to control forest fires, were put out of service by the Obama administration following a contract dispute just five weeks ago.

According to Human Events, this leaves the federal government with only 11 tankers to battle the more than 50 large uncontrolled forest fires burning nationwide -- including the Texas fires that killed a mother and her child.


This is 40 tankers less than was available to the Forest Service just 10 years ago.

Aero Union, the largest supplier of heavy-duty air tanker support to the government had their contract cancelled after disagreements over their maintenance plan.

Aero CEO Britt Gourley said he and his crews were prepared to fly and instead he was forced to put 60 people out of work with virtually no explanation.

“We wanted to sit down with them and ask why it was canceled and find a quick resolution, but they didn’t want to talk about it. They just said, ‘We don’t want the airplanes, have a nice life,’ ” Gourley said to Human Events. “I had to let go of my staff–60 people and their families were devastated,” Gourley said. “It’s really been tragic.”

On top of the current string of fires hitting the U.S., California is just entering its fire season and in response Gourley wrote a letter to the Forest Service asking them to reconsider their decision.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/grounded-firefighting-planes-texas-wild
fires-2011-9#ixzz1XOX51vSj

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Gourley said his company initially was given certification by the FAA and U.S. Forest Service in 2007, with the understanding Aero Union would put its fleet of eight P3 air tankers through a gauntlet of inspections as part of the FAA’s phase-in program.

He said the planes already have gone through and passed the most crucial inspections at a cost of more than $11 million.

The inspections so far have looked the 40-plus-year-old planes over for fatigue and corrosion, among other factors, he said.

But additional inspections remain, which he estimates would cost more than $20 million.

Gourley said his company had planned to finish those inspections and part replacements by 2013.

But FAA and U.S. Forest Service this year began to question his Aero Care’s certification because the inspections were not complete in 2007, he said.

Gourley said he and other Aero Union officials decided to ground their planes until there was no question about the validity of their certification. He said he was concerned the questions of certification would pose a legal obligation for company officials if an accident occurred during firefighting efforts in West Texas.

“We couldn’t take that chance, we absolutely couldn’t take that chance,” he said.

Gourley said an emergency meeting between the U.S. Forest Service, FAA and Aero Union was set for Tuesday in Los Angeles.

He said he was hopeful his planes would be back in service fighting fires by Tuesday.

The planes were voluntarily grounded by Aero Union, said Jennifer Jones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service. She said she would not comment Friday on the company’s reason for taking the aircraft out of service.

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The issue isn't with funding, or Perry, but w/ the Ag Dept of the US govt. It's a contract dispute, and while houses burned, as land went up in smoke, Federal bureaucracy kept these planes out of the air.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
What caused the oil spill in the Gulf ? Do you know ?

It wasn't a lack of regulations.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
The planes were voluntarily grounded by Aero Union, said Jennifer Jones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service. She said she would not comment Friday on the company’s reason for taking the aircraft out of service.

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By the way, Governor Rick Perry slashed the budget for volunteer firefighters by 75% this year, because everybody knows that when you're in the middle of a history-making drought, there's never going to be any fire danger.

Rick Perry made that decision. Not the federal government. The state government, with a Republican supermajority and a Republican Governor. They slashed firefighting budgets, laid off firefighters, cut training, slashed equipment budgets, and set the stage for this mess.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
What caused the oil spill in the Gulf ? Do you know ?

It wasn't a lack of regulations.

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No, it was a refusal to follow regulations.

That is exactly what you are advocating here as well. You're a big fan of the GOP belief that "it's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission", and you advocate disregarding regulations at every opportunity. And of course, when you do this, and it all goes to shit because you didn't follow the rules, you turn around and claim that "nobody could have foreseen this!"

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But everywhere you look are trees just ready to explode. The west side of Austin is largely covered with cedar trees, which are highly flammable and dry as tinder right now. One spark and they'll explode. We see the smoke from our house, and we can smell it, but we're safe so far.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

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But everywhere you look are trees just ready to explode. The west side of Austin is largely covered with cedar trees, which are highly flammable and dry as tinder right now. One spark and they'll explode. We see the smoke from our house, and we can smell it, but we're safe so far.

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So, it's a lack of funding, training and such that has made the entire WEST SIDE OF AUSTIN , which is covered in cedar trees, a tinderbox, ready to explode ?

Really?

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

I'm not seeing your reply on what regulations were ignored, and by who, causing the gulf oil gusher.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

I'm not seeing your reply on what regulations were ignored, and by who, causing the gulf oil gusher.

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And you still haven't shown us exactly how the federal government grounded these planes, as you claimed they did. What specific regulation did they cite, if they indeed grounded these planes?

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

I'm not seeing your reply on what regulations were ignored, and by who, causing the gulf oil gusher.

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And you still haven't shown us exactly how the federal government grounded these planes, as you claimed they did. What specific regulation did they cite, if they indeed grounded these planes?

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I already posted on this topic. You're stalling / trying to obfuscate.

" Aero Union, the largest supplier of heavy-duty air tanker support to the government had their contract cancelled after disagreements over their maintenance plan."

Put up or shut up.

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Volunteer firefighters turned away from fire duty, fire chief on vacation playing golf

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Oh, and by the way, where was the Austin Fire Chief…..golfing in Colorado. Why should she care ha ha? She is protected by law and stupidity and also she is NOT A TEXAN. Kerr's decision to stay on vacation has renewed questions among some firefighters — nine of whom reportedly lost their homes in Bastrop County, the hardest-hit area in the unprecedented fires — and from union officials about her leadership.
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/austin-fire-chief-out-of-town-as-w
ildfires-1824414.html

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BASTROP, TEXAS — David Avary and Ryan Smith said they drove all the way from Odessa to help, only to be sent home.

Don Perry came in from San Antonio, with the same result. Days later, he’s still steaming.

The three firefighters were among dozens, perhaps hundreds, who answered the call for volunteers to help battle Texas’ worst wildfire in decades — and went home empty-handed and, in many cases, unhappy.

In what may be the biggest public glitch so far in the massive emergency effort, state and local officials today for the first time detailed why they turned away the help as the fires raged.

“We may have had some of the world’s finest firefighters showing up, but if they weren’t properly qualified or trained and had no equipment, we had no choice,” said Mike Fisher, Bastrop County’s emergency management director.

“I hate to tell anybody we don’t need you, but we absolutely didn’t want to get anyone hurt.”

By the time the fires started being brought under control in the Piney Woods, the blogosphere had ignited with criticism over the turn-aways earlier this week, leaving some officials shaking their heads — and echoing the safety concerns.

“With wildland firefighting, we have to have folks trained, qualified and credentialed,” Holly Huffman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service that is overseeing much of the firefighting coordination, told a television reporter.

“We’ve got folks that are self-dispatching and coming in and maybe aren’t credentialed in wildland firefighting. That just adds to the risk of someone getting hurt, and that’s the last thing that we want.”

Once the fires broke out Sunday, local officials quickly sought state assistance to fight the quickly spreading flames. About the same time as Austin officials on Tuesday requested assistance from off-duty firefighters to help battle two Travis County blazes, a Facebook message called for firefighters to come to Bastrop.

The message quickly went viral.

Avary and Smith, both volunteer firefighters in Ector County, told NewsWest 9 in Midland/Odessa on Wednesday that they drove to Bastrop to answer the call but were sent home on Tuesday. Perry told much the same story, standing outside the Bastrop Convention and Exhibit Center, where he was helping hand out supplies to evacuees.

“I called Bastrop and they said they could use whatever assistance they could get, so I drove up, ” said Perry, a retired firefighter. “I’m still ticked off about the way they handled it.”

Unlike others, Perry said he brought his equipment and is qualified to fight fires like those in Bastrop, from his days as a military firefighter in Arizona.

But Fisher and other officials said the firefighting efforts outside Bastrop were closely coordinated, and trained firefighters were dispatched to battle the blazes as part of a closely coordinated, strategic campaign.

Firefighters were brought in from across Texas and the nation — some U.S. Forest Service teams came in from as far away as Northern California, officials said — and all were organized and sent to specific areas based on their training and equipment, Fisher said.

That coordinated response was handled through the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, Fisher said, a network that allows officials across the state to closely coordinate the assignment of manpower and equipment in large emergencies such as the wildfires.

By Wednesday, Texas Forest Service officials said, 19 strike teams were on duty across the state fighting fires.

“Fighting these fires is a very precise process,” Fisher said. “And even though we appreciate people volunteering, sometimes we can’t accommodate them.”

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Feds to assume control of Bastrop Co. fire; volunteer firemen turned away

BASTROP, TEXAS — Firefighting-trained volunteers from around the state converged on Bastrop and Smithville Tuesday to lend a hand to the beleaguered local firefighters battling the Bastrop County Complex Fire — only to be sent away as federal officials arrived at the scene and took command, apparently because local officials never made a formal request for volunteers.

“We were at the station getting set up into strike teams, and this guy came up and said that the U.S. Forest Service had ‘assumed control of the situation, and that ‘If you don’t have a vehicle that squirts water, go home,’” said Gordon Greer of Kirbyville, who drove all night Monday to arrive in the town beset by the worst wildfire in Texas history. “You’ve got guys who had driven all night long from Corpus Christi and Brownsville on their own dime, and they turned them away. He was really a (bleep) about it.

“There was a whole line of beige cars that came in this morning, tinted windows and such,” Greer said.

A spokesperson with the U.S. National Interagency Incident Center, Jennifer Jones, confirmed that federal group of several different agencies would be assuming command in Bastrop County around 1 p.m. Tuesday, but had not done so when the firefighting volunteers were told to leave. April Saginor with the Texas Forest Service said her agency had not given any such order, to her knowledge, but promised to provide an update later in the day.

The question is apparently one of protocol, however.

The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management announced via its Facebook account Tuesday afternoon that “Any fire mutual aid requests would always come through (and to) Local, State and National fire service and emergency leadership. This message sent as per Texas Fire Chiefs, TIFMAS, IAFC, USFA and FEMA. If you are a fire fighter wanting to volunteer you have to be activated by the National Forestry Service first.”

The Texas Forest Service issued a statement Tuesday evening that it is not requesting firefighters/retired firefighters to report to Central Texas.

"If a person wants to fight fire they can: 1. Apply for a full-time Texas Forest Service position. We are not hiring seasonals as we currently do not have the time to hire, train and certify them. 2. Join a local fire department. 3. Members of local departments should not self-dispatch. Have your fire chief contact TIFMAS Coordinator Joe Florentino at jflorentino@littleelm.org"

Several of the volunteers voiced their displeasure, however, at federal agents taking charge at the scene after appeals by Texas Gov. Rick Perry for federal aid following another series of wildfires earlier this year was turned down.

“They’re willing to sacrifice the lives of the people of Bastrop just so they can come in here and pull rank,” said Daniel Miller of Nederland, who had led a group of Texas Nationalist Movement members who were certified firefighters to Bastrop from the Beaumont area. Miller said he and several other members of the group would remain in the Bastrop area to aid with civilian relief efforts.

http://www.gonzalescannon.com/node/6410

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Some 1,386 homes have been destroyed in a monstrous fire burning southeast of Austin that has destroyed more homes than any other blaze in Texas history, county officials said on Thursday.

The devastating new number -- nearly triple what officials had said earlier in the week -- is the county's "best estimate" of the 35,000-acre fire that's been ripping through this rural, historic community since Sunday, said Bastrop County Emergency Coordinator Mike Fisher.

"This is based on everything we had in (the count) before, plus a house by house and driveway by driveway count we did last night," Fisher said.

Officials said that number is likely to increase as the count continues.

The blaze has killed two people, forced the evacuation of 5,000 and was about 30 percent contained Thursday, officials said.

More than 3.6 million acres in Texas have been scorched by wildfires since November, fed by a continuing drought that has caused more than $5 billion in damage to the state's agricultural industry and that shows no sign of easing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/08/us-texas-wildfires-idUSTRE78
426D20110908

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

Still nothing to show where BP or anyone skirted regulations, which lead to the gulf oil accident, huh?

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Originally posted by m52nickerson:

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

Still nothing to show where BP or anyone skirted regulations, which lead to the gulf oil accident, huh?

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http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/bp_acknowled
ges_it_never_follo.html

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bps-dismal-safety-record/story?id=10763042

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The president's Oil Spill Commission has concluded that systemic failures, not a rogue BP management style, caused the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout in April

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

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Originally posted by m52nickerson:

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

Still nothing to show where BP or anyone skirted regulations, which lead to the gulf oil accident, huh?

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http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/bp_acknowled
ges_it_never_follo.html

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bps-dismal-safety-record/story?id=10763042

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And neither of those 2 links are relevant to the issue at hand, now are they, hmmm?

Nope, they ain't.

However, you may have missed this little gem...

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The president's Oil Spill Commission has concluded that systemic failures, not a rogue BP management style, caused the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout in April

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So, should I ask the question again? Or have we settled the matter ?

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During its investigation, the Panel found evidence that BP, and in some instances its contractors, violated the following regulations in effect at the time of the blowout:

 30 CFR § 250.107 – BP failed to protect health, safety, property, and the environment. BP and Transocean did not: (1) perform all operations in a safe and workmanlike manner; or (2) maintain all equipment and work areas in a safe condition.

 30 CFR § 250.300 – BP, Transocean, and Halliburton (Sperry Sun) did not prevent conditions that posed unreasonable risk to public health, life, property, aquatic life, wildlife, recreation, navigation, commercial fishing, or other uses of the ocean.

 30 CFR § 250.401 – BP, Transocean, and Halliburton (Sperry Sun) failed to take necessary precautions to keep the well under control at all times.

 30 CFR § 250.446(a) – BP and Transocean failed to maintain the BOP system in accordance to API RP 53 section 18.10 and 18.11.

 30 CFR § 250.420(a)(1) and (2) – BP and Halliburton did not cement the well in a manner that would properly control formation pressures and fluids; and prevent the direct or indirect release of fluids from any stratum through the wellbore into offshore waters.

 30 CFR § 250.427(a) – BP failed to use pressure integrity test and related hole‐behavior observations, such as pore pressure test results, gas‐cut drilling fluid, and well kicks to adjust the drilling fluid program and the setting depth of the next casing string.

 30 CFR §1721(a)– BP failed to conduct the negative test on April 20 in accordance with the negative test procedure approved in the April 16 APM.

This list of violations is based upon the evidence gathered by the JIT during its investigation and upon the Panel’s findings and conclusions. Additional evidence may reveal further violations.

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