Editorial – Station Fire Congressional Inquiry Request

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We agree with the editorial piece below. Something is critically broken within the federal wildfire program… and it needs to be fixed soon. Congressional hearings and increased oversight of the Forest Service is a positive move forward in the right direction. 

Most wildland firefighters and fire managers agree that the whitewash document (see posts below) that the Forest Service “land managers” produced didn’t fully address community concerns, nor did it address issues brought forward by cooperating fire agencies.

Folks, we can do better. We owe it to our firefighters and our community.

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Our View: The fire next time
Pasadena Star News
Link: Opinions


IT’S not that we necessarily think a congressional investigation will fully uncover what went wrong in the early fight against the Station Fire in the San Gabriel Mountains.


It’s that some authorities clearly need the kick in the pants that the threat of such an investigation by Congress will bring.


So Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, was absolutely right to say this week that he wants a hard House look at just why the United States Forest Service declined to use the aerial resources that were available to knock down the fire before it spread.


For the rest of the editorial piece, please CLICK HERE ...

When Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, who represents the area at the front line of the blaze, asked authorities to coordinate on an analysis of what went right and wrong, “Cal Fire responded appropriately,” Portantino said. “The Forest Service was still mulling the request over and never got back to us to say if they would participate.”