The whereabouts of the Air Force is still up in the air at this time.

The whereabouts of the Air Force is still up in the air at this time.

The simple answer is that things ain't that simple.

You can't load up flame retardants and suppressants like you do a bunch of bombs.  It takes special planes loaded up foam or other fire fighting materials that fly out over the fires and dump the loads in strategic spots.

Sadly, based on news I had seen, there were no end of issues about not being able to fly over the fires because of how strong the winds were, how high the flames and heat from same were reaching, and a lot of other similar issues that conspired to keep a lot of fire fighting from the skies from happening for much of this set of fires.

 

Of course, if you wait long enough, the Clueless Old Inferior Occifer will pop-in and blame it all on Bush and say that if we weren't wasting all of our money fightin' a war in Iraq that we could have our troops out doing this job they haven't been trained to do.

I have no answer to your question.  However, I did hear one person (a fire chief out there i think) lamenting the fact that they could not ask Russia for help as Russia has some planes specifically designed for this type of action.

I dont have an answer for that one as well.

Iraq

*this is dharma's husband answering for my wife

first, there's a war on.

Second, whar little recscurces we DO have are being cenrtered on the big bad wolves in iraq.

Thirdly....be careful what youn wish for cause you just might get it.

the air force was grounded by California because California was/is afraid that the air force would put out the wrong fires.

The whereabouts of the Air Force is still up in the air at this time.

Ditto:

Apparently we have lost the good old American way getting things done. Moreover, I suspect the DOD--in light of the snafu a few weeks ago--is worried that the Air force might drop atom bombs instead of retardants.

LOS ANGELES - As wildfires were charging across Southern California, nearly two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two massive cargo planes sat idly by, grounded by government rules and bureaucracy.

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How much the aircraft would have helped will never be known, but their inability to provide quick assistance raises troubling questions about California's preparations for a fire season that was widely expected to be among the worst on record.

It took as long as a day for Navy, Marine and California National Guard helicopters to get clearance early this week, in part because state rules require all firefighting choppers to be accompanied by state forestry "fire spotters" who coordinate water or retardant drops. By the time those spotters arrived, the powerful Santa Ana winds stoking the fires had made it too dangerous to fly.



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sat idly by, grounded by government rules and bureaucracy.

Sad, but expected.