Colorado congressmen want aerial wildfire-fighting plan speeded up

By: JUDITH KOHLER - Associated Press | Thursday, May 31, 2007 7:31 PM PDT ∞

DENVER -- Two Colorado congressmen want to know why a long-term plan for the country's aerial wildfire-fighting program promised this spring likely won't be finished for several more months -- after the worst of the fire season.

Democrats Mark Udall and John Salazar, whose districts include insect-ravaged swaths of forest considered vulnerable to fire, have sent two recent letters asking Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey where the plan is.

Last year, the congressmen asked Rey, who directs U.S. Forest Service policy, about the state of the air tankers following fatal crashes in 2002 and 2005 and an independent investigation into the aging fleet's safety. They said Rey promised that a long-term plan would be completed this spring.

Udall and Salazar sent a letter last week asking when the plan would be released and a second letter Tuesday saying they were "very concerned" to hear it likely won't be finished for months.

With the West's ongoing drought and the bark-beetle epidemic leaving behind stands of dry, dead trees, "it is essential that we have the resources we need and that those resources are safe and effective," the congressmen wrote.

Forest Service spokesman Joe Walsh in Washington said last week that the study likely will continue through the end of the year.

"The key to this is that it will not impact our ability with the tools that we need for the 2007 fire season," Walsh said.

Walsh didn't return phone calls seeking comment Thursday on the congressmen's latest letter.

Rey told The Associated Press in a May 18 interview that he doesn't foresee any problems with preparedness for this year's fire season. He said while fewer fixed-wing air tankers are under contract than before a series of crashes starting in 2002, more large helicopters with water tanks and smaller helicopters are lined up.

"We'll have assets (comparable) to what we had last year," Rey said. "I think we probably won't have quite as severe a year as we had last year."

The federal government has 16 large air tankers ready to go. There were 44 tankers of varying ages and sizes before some planes were pulled from service and others were grounded for inspections after the crashes.

Wildfires have already erupted in California, Florida and Georgia, and the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, says on its Web site that 36,416 fires have burned a total of 1.3 million acres this year.

That's below the 2.5 million acres for the same time last year but above the 10-year average.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has said state wildfire crews are bracing for an active fire season because of the bark beetle problem and the forecast of a hot, dry summer.

James Hull, co-chairman of a panel of experts that issued a report in 2002 on the aerial firefighting program, said he's not concerned about the delayed release of the long-term plan.

"It's a very complex matter. It's going to be very expensive however you go about doing it," said Hull, the Texas state forester.

But Hull said he is disappointed that the Forest Service is still looking for suitable military aircraft to convert to air tankers. Most of the planes are leased from private contractors who convert military aircraft to carry fire retardant.

"Based on what we were told throughout the study, this whole concept of continuing the use of military aircraft of any age in the long term, it's a no win," Hull said.

The independent investigation focused on, among other things, whether the crashes were isolated incidents or caused by problems inherent in using converted military planes of that age. Two of the planes that crashed were more than 40 years old.

Two people on board a P4Y-2 air tanker died when it lost a wing and slammed into the ground near Rocky Mountain National Park in July 2002.

Hull said it would better to use planes built specifically for firefighting but acknowledged that would be expensive. Hull said the trend of using a mix of aircraft -- helicopters, fixed-wing tankers and single-engine planes -- makes sense.

"We have a variety of tools in the toolbox," said Tom Harbour, national director of fire and aviation management for the Forest Service.

Harbour said the federal government has the 16 heavy air tankers, dozens of large helicopters with water tanks that can also haul buckets and smaller helicopters and about 30 single-engine planes. He said the Forest Service was considering more contracts this week and "literally hundreds of helicopters" across the country could be leased quickly if needed.

Harbour and Rey said although helicopters can't fly as quickly as fixed-wing planes, they can carry about the same amount of retardant and don't necessarily have to return to an airport to reload.

Rey said the Forest Service's guidelines for the planes' fitness are tougher than those of the Federal Aviation Administration. He said stress limits for the aircraft are calculated on the number of flight hours, and planes will be grounded once they exceed the total flying time considered safe.