Leaderboard

Worked 7 fires last year doing mainly mitigation with Hot Shot and Hand crews as a contractor. We fight fires backwards, instead of spending money doing year-round mitigation and controlled burns we do them after the fact after a massive fire. My last go was in the Big Horns near Sheridan Wyoming, what stopped it was 10 inches of snow. Lost 40 pounds last summer and was in the best shape of my life. Staying in shape to pass my pack test, 45-pound pack, 3-mile walk, under 45 minutes. Thought about this year going back to aircraft mx on the fire bombers but love being on the fire line with the boys. Tried being retired but my neighbor talked me into this, money is good and its better than working at some box store.

Obviously. If the planes weren't flying, they wouldn't have got got

Corruption is everywhere in America (especially the legal kind with campaign contributions) so that’s not unique. Probably the same amount as the South and Northeast but California is just better at hiding it because they’re not overt Good Ole Boys. But to the people drawn to politics, money isn’t as influential as power. Ideas and policy are a bureaucrat’s personal power, and challenging the ideas that define their lives and legacy is what makes them dig in like nothing else. In California, the political class is centered on returning the state to what they remember it looking like when they were teenagers. It’s a false vision of a “natural” California that hasn’t existed in 200 years. People have forever changed California from a natural equilibrium into an economic powerhouse and you can never go back. The Central Valley levies changed grasslands, floodplain marshes, and oak forests into tree nut farms and rice paddies; its 10% of American farm output (cool), but the farmers’ unrestricted wells have drained the aquifers so much that the southern valley has sank dozens of feet. The mountain forests were able to grow 200 year old trees because they could self-regulate; lightning strike fires would burn the little stuff and the big trees would survive. But now because even the remote forests have a house every few miles the fires need to be put out immediately. And the compounding problem is those houses are served by 1960s power lines and roads that cause the fires in the first place. Roads and utilities that can’t be improved without permits from a dozen entities because brine shrimp, mice, and smelts might be affected. So there’s no going back to equilibrium naturally, it’ll have to be constantly managed and adapted, which the bureaucracy has not been willing to do. The LA fires pale in comparison to one of the million acre fires that are unfortunately common in the Sierras, but hopefully the day and night visibility for 10M people in LA will cause some movement. The solution is a combination of reservoir building, utility line improvements (including self-contained systems like solar and power walls, why not), brush management in critical areas (you can’t do it everywhere, too big), steel roofs/siding (the majority of legacy mountain buildings are asphalt shingles, really), and more money for air attack planes and pilots. Some smelts and mice might not make it, but at least less will die in fires.

Dibs

WSJ has a good article this morning talking about exactly the infrastructure stuff you mentioned. A utility company was widening a fire road and fire-proofing the electrical lines. They got a $2M fine and a cease and desist order in addition to the rehabilitation they were forced to do because they damaged some plants.

Remains to be seen. CA is a massively corrupt dumpster fire - they have the best chance of any state at learning nothing and continuing business as usual. I hope that’s not the case, but I’m not holding my breath.

News reporting this morning at least one of the fires was started by an arsonist...he is an illegal and had a hand made FLAMETHROWER. Several local residnets detained him after witnessing him starting a fire. ICE has a detainer on him, California is not expected to honor the ICE request.

LA Fires may need its own thread. Between causation and tragedy to D state priorities, funding, and politics, there are also a shit ton of rich LA assholes that should put their money where their liberal mouths are. I'm sure Hollywood could generate a sizable GFMe for the littler guys. Start with the water hoarding Kardashians. Sorry mods for the suggested work, this one is gonna get sporty.

It’s a girl!

That’ll look good in your favorite gay bar

Similar to what QUAG was saying, it's not uncommon for MQ-9 guys to escape to UPT. They are definitely hesitant but if you look at the results from previous years its totally doable. We are plussed up on numbers as well. The Air Force also has to play the balance game of retaining talent and pushing them to cross training opportunities. My old Chief Pilot here got out after being denied from UPT. Took his talents to the Airlines and used his GI Bill for ratings. Its a tricky balancing act especially with a 6 year ADSC career. We'll see what the board has in store for us "Magic Flying Robot" guys/gals.

Just RQS

From what I can tell, people are still wearing mess dress to graduation dinner.

Aerial fire fighting is impressive work…I have been more challenged flying in those situations (huge mountains, winds, smoke/shitty vis) than any mil flying I’ve done in the same time period. The guys doing the actual drops are doing some very difficult flying. Multiple times I’ve thought about leaving the airlines for it, but in the end the QOL gap is just too expansive for me personally. But that flying is probably the best civ flying there is once out of the mil, if you’re willing to live that life.

I don't know where you're at but at least at Columbus and I'm sure the others are doing the same, we wore service dress to graduation that morning and mess dress to the dinner that evening.

Awesome! I just lost an hour looking at all the other photos that thing has taken. When people ask, can the government really see that from space, I'll refer them to this site. Then let them know that this is just what a civilian company has access to lol.

He always keeps a folded paper map of Ukraine by his right hand.

I work with a retired Navy SWO who worked on said cruisers. He places the blame ENTIRELY on the F-18 Drivers.