Fire Stopped in Ventura County: Not in San Diego
Good news for residents of Ventura County: although the Ranch Fire is listed as being only 10% under control, it's not nearly the threat it was two days ago. From Inciweb:
Last night fire crews and structural protection engine crews reported that the night operations went extremely well with no surprises. In the early evening, the winds were less than previous nights and increased slightly after midnight. By 2am, the winds over the fire calmed considerably and in some places stopped completely. The fire did not expand significantly to the south or east...The fire did not cross highway 126 or progress any closer to the communities of Piru and Fillmore. All evacuations from the Ranch Fire within the counties of Las Angles and Ventura Counties have been lifted.
The news from down south is much, much worse, and finally people are beginning to ask questions about San Diego's fire preparedness. Could there be a connection between a low-tax, low-service county and inadequate fire protection?
The former San Diego fire chief, Jerry Bowman, who quit in 2006 in frustration over San Diego's refusal to fund firefighters, does make that connection. This cropped up in stories in both the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, but the best discussion I've seen is in popular Steve Lopez's column today for the Los Angeles Times:
Although the city of San Diego has a fire department, the county doesn't, leaving many suburban and rural areas to rely on volunteer departments. The city has but one firefighting helicopter and just 975 firefighters for 330 square miles and 1.3 million residents.
Compare that, he says, with San Francisco, which has 1,600 firefighters for 60 square miles and 850,000 people.
(Or Ventura County, which has about 800,000 people and 1900 square miles, but a highly-professional fire department with nearly 700 full-time and seasonal firefighters, 5 helicopters, and extensive resource-sharing agreements with the Forest Service, which is responsible for its huge backcountry.)
Lopez also gets to the heart of San Diego's real estate corruption, Developers turn out to back most of the county's anti-tax movements, according to UCSD professor Steve Erie.
Erie says that "developers own most of the city councils. In Poway, in Escondido, what they do is put homeowners in harm's way. They're able to control zoning processes, and they're frequently behind initiatives that say no new taxes, no new fire services. It's insanity."
Will this be the wake-up call that brings the county to its senses? Don't count on it. After the devastating fires of 2003, which killed more that 20 people, and were the largest wildfires in modern state history, San Diego had a chance to pass a modest hotel tax increase to fund firefighting efforts.
It failed. And now this... (photo of Mt. San Miguel in San Diego burning, via Flickr, from slworking)
(cross-posted at A Change in the Wind)
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Comments (5)
The Sign on San Diego blog of the Union-Tribune has a lot of information and regular updates for the SD area.
http://sosdfireblog.blogspot.com/
Comment #1 Posted by: Leslie Davis | October 24, 2007 12:38 PM
It is coming out now the extent of these fires being arsonist- more than one comment that they come with
the Santa Ana's. A terrorist plot? No... an insurance scam of huge proportions? No...but something is way out of the ordinary, with the number of fires burning at the same time,and needs truthful investigation to answer the huge loss and disruption to people's lives, for sure.
Comment #2 Posted by: pete lafollette | October 25, 2007 02:26 PM
For more info about how ill prepared SD is for fires you should listen to some of the interviews that the John and Ken show has done this week.
Here's the link http://www.kfi640.com/main.html then click on one of the links listed under John and Ken that appears in the middle of your screen.
They've interviewed several officials, and it's just unbelievable - no county fire dept, no resource agreements or contracts for support, no fixed wing aircraft. They also had air support ready to fly on the fire, but sat on the ground for more than a day waiting for required spotters to show up (a spotter is required on each aircraft/helicopter).
We should be grateful to live in Ventura County!
Comment #3 Posted by: Ginny | October 27, 2007 11:45 AM
It may very well be that there were bureaucratic snafus occurring at the beginning of the fires, but ALL of them are rendered moot by the fact that the extreme winds were what prevented aerial attack. Not only were the sustained winds above the performance capabilities of the aircraft, they were also variable in terms of direction, making attack strategies all but impossible. With such extremes in wind and (lack of) humidity, water drops are pointless as the water literally evaporates before it hits the ground. When it is possible for them to fly, they do. If most people understood the obstacles that high temperature and wind shear present for aircraft in these circumstances, they might be amazed that the pilots attempt it at all....
Comment #4 Posted by: Anonymous | October 27, 2007 12:27 PM
It may very well be that there were bureaucratic snafus occurring at the beginning of the fires, but ALL of them are rendered moot by the fact that the extreme winds were what prevented aerial attack. Not only were the sustained winds above the performance capabilities of the aircraft, they were also variable in terms of direction, making attack strategies all but impossible. With such extremes in wind and (lack of) humidity, water drops are pointless as the water literally evaporates before it hits the ground. When it is possible for them to fly, they do. If most people understood the obstacles that high temperature and wind shear present for aircraft in these circumstances, they might be amazed that the pilots attempt it at all....
Comment #5 Posted by: Anonymous | October 27, 2007 12:28 PM