The count is coming close to 2,000 followers for my FireBlogger Twitter account. Thank you to everyone that has added my updates to their queue. I said this 9 months ago and believe it more than ever today. Twitter is trumping blogs. Twitter Search reveals real sentiment, real news in real time.
Last November as flames approached the Hollydale Mobilehome Estates in Carbon Canyon TV viewers in the Southland watched as CBS2's Larry Welk hovered above covering the drama developing below.
From my perspective as a viewer the impending drama was adrenaline inducing. As I wrote at the time from all appearances this park was going to be run over. As it turned out of course the fire professionals on the ground were able to direct the flames around the homes. Despite many efforts I was unable to get the footage, footage that would be not only entertaining but useful or instructional for wildland firefighters worldwide.
Today in the comment section of the older post professional photographer Jody Gomez sent a link to a gallery of photos she shot that night on the ground in Carbon Canyon.
With permission from Jody I can post these images she shot from the ground on November 15, 2008.
Much appreciated Jody, be safe on the ground this season!"WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.
New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities." Washington Post/AP
This case had to do with a promotional exam, not a firefighter test. To me it is simple, this test forms a list of future leaders in the department. Fire officers are responsible for the safety of line personnel and overall public safety. I will not accept that this test or any test at this level is designed to keep particular ethnic groups off the list.
At the promotional level the guys and gals that make the list are the ones that studied the material the hardest. Cristi from The Kitchen Table pointed to this summary of the ruling today and the subject in general.
More, including discussion on Hot Air
Thanks to wildland fire professionals in California and the Western US every brush or timber fire that has started over the past month has been stomped out quickly. This is good news. The State deserves a break after last year.
In the meantime I am using the down time trading-researching-positioning my stocks and following world news and current events.
I'm waiting for the California budget to be presented and fully expect to see Cal Fire and other state agencies to get hit hard. Camp and station closings seem to be a given, hiring freezes, if not already in place will be soon.
I feel sorry for all aspiring firefighters, what is already a tough career to break into will now become nearly impossible to enter.
I like to read the writings of Victor Davis Hanson. Dr Hanson's vast experiences allows him to put the problems of California in a proper perspective.
One of Dr Hanson's commenter's came up with a line too good to not repeat. The comment applies to the broad view of the new America.
"Our future consists of ogres and bridge trolls in innumerable well Fed agencies empowered with police powers, not only to rebuke, but conduct inquisitions and punish the sinful."
This is ACORN, a very scary organization with tentacles reaching into dozens of "well fed" agencies all with the intent of serving the new Fed, The Borg.
They are funded now to an extent no one has reported. They will come knocking and when they do watch what you say. Their database will note who has been naughty and who has been nice.
Our only power is the vote and the 2010 mid terms are coming into view as the most important election in our Country's history. If the Dems. maintain control of the House and the Senate can maintain their 60-some seats we are finished.
You can pencil in a second term for this president and his policies if 2010 goes south.
China, who holds more of our debt than any other country is hedging this scenario by cutting deals with Brazil and Australia for oil, minerals and investments. They are also hoarding some precious and rare metals like magnesium because they understand once commodities inflate they want to have the materials necessary for growth on hand. They are also proposing a new world currency that would replace the American dollar as the reserve currency of the world.
At least someone recognizes what a $12 trillion debt will bestow upon us. The Chinese don't want to be holding devalued U.S debt when the crap (inflation or default) finally hits the fan.
My $400 PG&E bill will be going even higher if the Senate goes along with the House and passes the Cap-N-Trade bill.
The line at my various doctor's offices will get longer if the president gets his socialized medicine program.
Doctors are already quitting. If the press was to do their job they would find this out and report it. Under socialized health care you will be screened by a nurse and wait in another line to see a physicians assistant.
Specialists will be seen by only the sickest and in many cases these patients will be too sick to help. One of the arguments the social medicine crowd have made from the start is we try too hard in America to prolong life.
Life is important. Bio tech stocks can double their market cap in a day if they present data that shows their new drugs might possibly add a few months of life of a terminal patient. Why is this?
We honor life in the USA, we reward those that can prolong life. Don't present a new policy that holds as its core reasoning that we try too hard to prolong life!
Ask an Oncologist in the UK, Canada or Cuba if they have access to the most advanced drugs in their arsenal for treatment. Ask him or her if they wish they had access to those drugs.
This may not mean too much to the ACORN kids running around with their clipboards taking notes but it does to me and my friends and relatives that have been around awhile.
Raymond Lee Oyler the arsonist/killer who started the Esperanza Fire that killed Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, Jess McLean, 27, Pablo Cerda, 23, Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, and Jason McKay, 27 was sentenced to death today according to the L.A. Times.
He will join this list of condemned California death row inmates while he awaits his fate.
Here are some updated images of a few of his new neighbors like Richard Ramirez and Scott Peterson from KTVU TV.
Reports from various sources hint that Cal Fire stands to lose $17 million from their budget due to the State being broke.
One source quotes the Governor declaring there will be a 5% pay cut across the board for state workers.
Other sources suggest Governor Schwarzenegger wants to eliminate the California Youth Authority, another consideration proposes closing down the state parks.
It seems to me the Cal Fire cuts will be seen in equipment attrition. I drove a 20 year old engine and an even older crew bus in my day so I see no harm in putting off purchases of shiny new model 5's and water tenders. Bulldozers age well generally and their tenders only need to get across the state a few times a year.
Cal Fire equipment is well maintained. I forget the schedules but as I recall we changed the oil on the apparatus every 1,500 miles. Safety equipment is inspected daily. A well maintained fire engine can last for decades so the dream of a new fire engine in the driveway of every station is over.
Where it will hurt is if the cuts begin to claim personnel.
Who is likely to be hurt first? At first no one in my opinion. The hiring has already been done for the 2009 fire season. At least for 2009 I don't see much pain.
2010 will be a different story. I expect some stations and possibly some camps will be closed. I can see the state offering early retirement to guys and gals within reach. I expect many of these positions will not be filled, possibly ever.
I cannot see air attack, fixed wing or rotary aircraft affected at all. Any attempt to save a buck or two by eliminating air support would be a mistake.
If I was the Governor I would draw on help from the President's gargantuan list of service corps or whatever his regime is calling it.
Tens of billions of dollars is appropriated for various volunteer programs funded through the Omnibus or Stimulus/Porkulus Bills, some have to do with conservation projects. Among the myriad of funded programs under the banner of the National Service.gov there has to be funds that can be used for essentials like fire suppression. Here is a list of funded projects for California through Americorps.
If there is money available and able body men and women who want a truly useful and rewarding job I say train them for fire crew assignment or incident base support. This is not unheard of, California Conservation Corps members, covered to some extent by Americorps already help.
The California budget pains cannot be avoided by California's elite firefighting force. The true pain may be deferred until next year but with a little imagination and smart lobbying the cuts can be minimized.
In the meantime a potentially brutal fire season is upon us.
It's happening, from state level to municipalities police services are running out of money. Yesterday the USA Today reported on the phenomenon and cited some examples of affected communities including the Palm Springs area in California.
"In Southern California, Indio and its neighbors Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City and Beaumont have merged some key functions and also plan to combine dispatch operations to increase efficiency. "It's the legacy of the budget crunch," Indio's Capt. Richard Banasiak says..."
The steps taken in Palm Springs are logical. What is happening in the Coachella Valley can and should be widely instituted elsewhere in California and throughout the country, how can it not?
Today in California voters are set to reject the plate of tax initiatives on the ballet. I voted no and most people I know voted no.
Enough is enough is what voters are saying. Enough tricky schemes to raise our taxes, enough giving politicians more money to pad their pet services. Enough with pure entitlements. Enough with the taxes that are driving my family and friends from their home state.
The challenge is now on the Governor and his buds in Sacramento to actually make cuts.
He shouldn't wait for his share of the stimulus to bail us out. He should go ahead and make some cuts. It's unavoidable anyway. He's too far away from the end of his term, he can't punt, he has to pull out the pen and CUT.
It's now on Governor Schwarzenegger. Maybe he can be the leader we thought we were getting when we voted him in.
Thermo-Gel was on the job in Santa Barbara last week. A homeowner protected his house from the advancing flames of the Jesusita Fire and left a note for firefighters indicating the home had been "gelled".
The images below were provided to me by the fine people at Thermo-Gel. Notice the sign on the porch entrance.
My site is worth $4956.7.
How much is yours worth?
