By Emma Gallegos
Pasadena Star-News
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Forest Service should change how it attacks fires in the Angeles National Forest, implementing techniques and policies more in line with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, according to a county report on the Station Fire released Tuesday night.
The report calls for a “vastly different approach” to both fire prevention and response to wildfires that break out in the Angeles National Forest, specifically because of “its proximity to highly populated urban areas.”
In a key recommendation, the report — which was authored by a group of county fire chiefs — officials said the U.S. Forest Service should reinstitute night-time aerial water drops.
Unlike the county, the U.S. Forest Service does not allow water-dropping helicopters to fly at night.
Last week Jim Hubbard, deputy chief for the U.S. Forest Service, said that the agency suspended the nighttime flights because the practice is extremely risky.
U.S. Forest Service could not be reached for comment after the report was released Tuesday night.
While no “particular action or tool may not have changed the outcome of the Station Fire,” the absence of nighttime flights “raises a valid question for the future,” the report said.
“There is no debate that a critical time period existed from initial dispatch on August 26, 2009, until approximately 8:00 a.m. on August 27, 2009, when the fire crossed the Angeles Crest Highway. What was not used were LACoFD firefighting helicopters during the hours of darkness on August 26, 2009, until dawn on August 27, 2009.”
In a phone interview, county Fire Chief Michael Freeman said officials “understand the history of helicopters operating at night and that there have been some tragedies,” but added that his experience in firefighting “says you need to have all the tools available ...as opposed to some absolute that says that we do not fly at night.”
“Would such an attack have made a difference in the outcome? No one can say for sure, but such a tactical practice should be the norm for wildland fires in the forest,” the report stated.
To compile the report, county fire officials reviewed the actions of the department through Aug. 31, when the agency initially responded to the Station Fire, the largest wildfire in county history. The fire scorched more than 160,500 acres, damaged 96 homes and killed two firefighters.
The executive report also recommended that the U.S. Forest Service increase its focus on brush clearance around structures in the forest. Currently, the vegetation around structures is cleared for 30 feet.
“We’d like the Angeles National Forest to be allowed to have 200-foot brush clearance — just like we require in our jurisdiction,” Freeman said by phone.
The report also recommended that additional measures be taken to protect communications and historic structures on Mount Wilson, including clearing brush and helping engineers create a buffer zone with fire-resistive ground cover material.
Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a critic of the U.S. Forest Service’s policy of not performing nighttime aerial water drops, supported the reports’ recommendations.
“This needs to be on top of our priority list for those of us that want to protect life and property,” said his spokesman, Tony Bell.
County fire provided assistance to the U.S. Forest Service, the lead agency responding to the Station Fire during the first three days of the blaze.
The county report comes on the heels of a federal report released by the U.S. Forest Service last Friday. That report did not question any of the federal agency’s policies, blaming the escalation of the Station Fire on the dry brush and steep terrain where the fire spread in its first days.
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