The U.S. Forest Service is close to re-establishing a full-time federal air tanker base at the Santa Maria Airport during fire season, but the details need to be fine-tuned, county officials said Tuesday.
The movement came at a meeting Tuesday — attended by representatives from the offices of Reps. Elton Gallegly and Lois Capps, Los Padres National Forest Supervisor Peggy Hernandez, and members of the Fire Chiefs Association of Santa Barbara County — to hammer out details of what the fire chiefs are looking for in an air tanker base.
“They’re still working on the contract, but everything’s looking good,” Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Michael Dyer said after the meeting. “I can’t tell you that it’s done, but it’s almost done.”
The fire chiefs want an air tanker base manager on duty in Santa Maria full-time during the fire season. Additionally, they want a contractor to be ready and available to provide retardant. The chiefs also want a contract that allows for more flexibility in federal response to wildland fires outside of fire season, which changes timewise based on scientific data such as fuel load and moisture content.
Tuesday’s meeting was the latest development in a continuing push to re-establish the full-time Forest Service air tanker base since it was downgraded in March 2009. The base was located at Santa Barbara Airport from 1958 to 2007, when it was relocated to the Santa Maria Airport. It operated as a full-service initial attack and extended-attack base until it was downgraded to call-when-needed status by the Los Padres National Forest for efficiency reasons.
Area fire chiefs have argued vehemently, however, that the full-service base is critical, and have garnered support from numerous elected officials. Dyer said that support made the difference.
In a letter to Forest Service Fire Chief Tom Tidwell dated Sept. 20, for example, the County Board of Supervisors charged that the decision to downgrade the status threatens the ability to respond quickly to fires in a county where some of the nation’s “largest and most destructive wildland fires have occurred.”
The board asked Tidwell to restore the base to “its original status of ‘full-service.’”
Capps and her staff also have met with Forest Service staff and local fire officials numerous times on the issue. On Tuesday, Capps’ press secretary, Ashley Schapitl, said the 24th District congresswoman, a Democrat, was “pleased” by the positive meeting. “She (Capps) is confident that the details of an agreement will be put to paper in the coming weeks that will address the concerns of local fire chiefs and ensure the Santa Maria Air Tanker base will be adequately staffed and equipped to respond to wildfires,” Schapitl said.
Hernandez did not return calls for comment.
Dyer said that the Forest Service is so big that it’s hard for Tidwell to keep a finger on everything. “I think the Forest Service overall just needs to remember they’re not operating in Montana or Wyoming,” Dyer said. “We have high-dollar urban communities built adjacent to the forest in Southern California. This is unlike any interface in the world.”
And, he said, the problems facing aviation resources for firefighting are a “big picture issue.” “They’re very expensive, but collaboratively we need to look at California and make sure we have adequate coverage,” he said.
By Marga K. Cooley / Associate Editor / mcooley@santamariatimes.com Santa Maria Times
Posted: Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Santa Barbara County officials have continued a push to reinstate the federal air tanker base at the Santa Maria Airport to full-time status by writing a letter to the U.S. Forest Service, but 4th District county Supervisor Joni Gray said Monday that there has been no response yet.
The Forest Service air tanker base was located at Santa Barbara Airport from 1958 to 2007, when it was relocated to the Santa Maria Airport. It operated as a full-service initial attack and extended attack base until March of 2009, when it was downgraded to call-when-needed status by the Los Padres National Forest to save money.
In a letter to U.S. Forest Service Fire Chief Tom Tidwell dated Sept. 20, the Board of Supervisors charged that the decision to downgrade the status threatens the ability to respond quickly to fires in a county where some of the nation’s “largest and most destructive wildland fires have occurred.”
The base was operational the week of Sept. 11 because lightning strikes early in the morning of Sept. 10 ignited at least a half-dozen brush fires in the Los Padres National Forest, most of which were quickly contained.
The appeal is the latest in a string of letters that have been sent to state and federal officials since the May 2009 Jesusita Fire, which occurred just months after the downgrade, and which many say escalated because of a lengthy delay in air tanker response. Eighty homes were destroyed in the conflagration that charred 8,773 acres and cost $19.5 million to suppress. Thirty-two firefighters were hurt battling the fire.
In their latest letter, supervisors charge that the Fire Chiefs Association of Santa Barbara County was assured that the downgrade would not cause a loss in air tanker production capabilities or reduce initial attack capabilities. Additionally, they say the Forest Service stated that the air tanker base, on a call-when-needed status, would be operational within four hours. “However, to date, the base has never been opened within this desired four-hour time frame,” the letter states. “Furthermore, the cost of one fire that escapes initial attack … is equal to many times the salary of the one eliminated base manager position,” the letter continues.
The county’s Deputy Fire Chief, Chris Hahn, said Monday that the Forest Service is still in the phase of figuring out what’s going to be done. “As of right now, there’s nothing new that’s happening,” he said.
In an agenda letter to supervisors last month, county Fire Chief Michael Dyer said that strategically, a full-service air tanker base in Santa Maria is critical to the Forest Service, Cal Fire, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and local city fire departments and districts.
Before it was downgraded, the air tanker base provided initial attack service for all wildland fires in the county as well as Ventura, San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties.
The letter states that the Forest Service justifies the downgrade by stating that no air tankers were pre-positioned at the air tanker base, but argues that that does not diminish the base’s ability to meet initial attack requirements. “Critical retardant drops are lost when air tankers must reload at a tanker base farther away than Santa Maria, often resulting in two hours more flight time,” the letter states.
By Marga K. Cooley / Associate Editor / mcooley@santamariatimes.com Santa Maria Times
Posted: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 12:15 am
At the recent airport show, Thunder over the Valley, the community once again provided financial support by their participation in sponsoring the corporate tents along the taxiway.
We would like to recognize those corporations for their past and continuing support for the Museum of Flight’s annual air show.
The sponsors were Toyota-Honda of Santa Maria, Engel & Gray, Skyway Engineering, Speeds Transportation, Primus Laboratories, Shepard Eye Center, C&D Zodiac, J.F. Will Co., Lahr Industrial Welding, Central Coast Distributing, and Marian Medical Center.
We thank all of you for your support and commitment. Plans for the 2012 show have begun and the committee is inviting all interested companies to reserve your chalet today.
John F. Will and Herb Gerfen
Santa Maria Museum of Flight
Posted: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 – 12:00 am