Burbank congressman wants night firefighting aircraft ban dropped
Burbank congressman wants night firefighting aircraft ban dropped
02 April 2010
published by www.scpr.org
USA — When brushfires break out in Southern California, a squadron of firefighting aircraft takes off to drop water and chemicals on the flames.
When the sun goes down, L.A. County Fire Department helicopters keep flying but U.S. Forest Service planes stay on the ground.
Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of Burbank wants those planes to stay in the fight. Hes asked the House committee that oversees the Forest Services budget to require a review of the ban on night and early morning flights.
L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a longtime critic of the Forest Service ban, says night flights would have made a big difference fighting last years Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest.
“We found that the failure of the U.S. Forestry Service to utilize night flying helped that fire to continue to burn and not be put out,” he said. “And as a result, we lost two firemens lives, 160,000 burned acres, and over a hundred homes and structures have been destroyed.”
The Forest Service ban on night flying went into effect after a fatal firefighting helicopter crash in 1977. But some firefighting agencies say better night-vision equipment and satellite-aided navigation make night flying much safer.
