August 16, 2007
Bee Columnist Jabs State On DC-10 Supertanker
The Sacramento Bee's veteran political columnist Dan Walters got it all wrong in his recent piece questioning the motivations behind the Cal Fire's contracting of the DC-10 Supertanker. He tries to draw a parallel to contracts for other aircraft made under the Davis administration to the Supertanker contract Governor Schwarzenegger signed earlier this year.
Walters employs old media tactics in his piece citing unknown and unnamed "rank and file firefighters";
"Some rank-and-file firefighters were dubious, as well, that a plane designed for level, high-altitude flight could perform the low-level maneuvers required of firefighting planes and dubbed it "Air Hummer," a jab at Schwarzenegger's favored mode of personal transport."
I doubt that but then again he can write what he likes, true or not. His readership will believe there are some "rank and file firefighters" running around questioning the need for such a tool true or not. Walters writes for the Sac Bee and is read by the hundreds of politicos in the capital city. A fair percentage of state level politicians read his word as fact and form opinion based on those slim facts.
These are the same people who fund Cal Fire.
Had Walters wanted to be fair he would have researched the issues surrounding the current state of firefighter aircraft nationwide. The Feds grounded the C-130 force due to a crash in 2002 and there are simply not enough (3,000 gallon capacity) P-3A/P-3B "Aerostar" Orion's to go around.
The decision by Governor Schwarzenegger and Cal Fire to sign the DC-10 Supertanker was made based on considerable testing and a dose of pragmatism. You can read CDF Director Ruben Grijalva's reasoning here.
The Chief sums up the Tanker 910 issue in his final sentence.
"The public safety, firefighter safety, and pilot safety issues, while not immediately measurable, may also be significant."
Nowhere in Dan Walters column was firefighter safety or any of the environmental (acreage saved) concerns mentioned.
Hopefully if the California Assembly or Senate ever debate this issue they read a little bit further than their favorite local columnist.
Tanker 910 Fact Sheet
Walters employs old media tactics in his piece citing unknown and unnamed "rank and file firefighters";
"Some rank-and-file firefighters were dubious, as well, that a plane designed for level, high-altitude flight could perform the low-level maneuvers required of firefighting planes and dubbed it "Air Hummer," a jab at Schwarzenegger's favored mode of personal transport."
I doubt that but then again he can write what he likes, true or not. His readership will believe there are some "rank and file firefighters" running around questioning the need for such a tool true or not. Walters writes for the Sac Bee and is read by the hundreds of politicos in the capital city. A fair percentage of state level politicians read his word as fact and form opinion based on those slim facts.
These are the same people who fund Cal Fire.
Had Walters wanted to be fair he would have researched the issues surrounding the current state of firefighter aircraft nationwide. The Feds grounded the C-130 force due to a crash in 2002 and there are simply not enough (3,000 gallon capacity) P-3A/P-3B "Aerostar" Orion's to go around.
The decision by Governor Schwarzenegger and Cal Fire to sign the DC-10 Supertanker was made based on considerable testing and a dose of pragmatism. You can read CDF Director Ruben Grijalva's reasoning here.
The Chief sums up the Tanker 910 issue in his final sentence.
"The public safety, firefighter safety, and pilot safety issues, while not immediately measurable, may also be significant."
Nowhere in Dan Walters column was firefighter safety or any of the environmental (acreage saved) concerns mentioned.
Hopefully if the California Assembly or Senate ever debate this issue they read a little bit further than their favorite local columnist.
Tanker 910 Fact Sheet
Labels: 2007 fire season, DC-10 Supertanker, politics, Tanker 910
