[PPRAANet] Waldo Canyon Fire info

[Dick-W0RAA]

The puzzling part of this whole chain is that the originator is more concerned with saving his house and has the attitude of the hell with mandatory evacuation.  It's like he could do anything to save his house, let alone his own ass.  

Those firefighters laid down their own lives to get people out.  None of them expected the Waldo Canyon blaze to "literally explode" and go racing down the side of the mountain to consume 347 homes.  Homes can be replaced, lives cannot.  Sadly 2 people had to die in that fire as well as the two who died during the Black Forest fire.  Those lives were more precious than somebody's home.  The firefighters said they were totally helpless when the fire started to hit Mountain Shadows.  I have a friend who is a firefighter and he said a lot of the guys were in tears because they were not able to save the homes, without the strong possibility of loss of firefighter lives.  There isn't a piece of property on the face of the earth that is worth more than a single life.

I never realized you had a possibility of losing a home to a wildfire, Mike.  Glad you didn't lose your home.  

But as the old saying goes "You can't reason with stupid."


Dick
My memory isn't as good as it used to be.
Also, my memory isn't as good as it used to be. 

On Jul 1, 2013, at 5:17 PM, W0MU Mike Fatchett <w0mu at w0mu.com> wrote:

> Excellent point.   If you went over the tapes of each and every channel that was in use I would bet that you would find many calls for additional resources across the entire fire.    Mobilizing resources does take some time.  I bet many FF were woken up after many hours on the fire during the day to get back out and help.
> 
> Each and every asset, truck and man/woman is accounted for prior to being assigned.  This does not happen instantly.  The Incident commander also has to determine which areas need the most help and the best way to get that help in safely and effectively.
> 
> I have been on the receiving end of a wildfire that burned 3000 acres in a ranch where I lived and sold property.  I did not lose my house thankfully.  Those that did started making all sorts of wild accusations and comments that were baseless.  After that Fire I joined the local department and had my eyes opened to how these events unfold and how these fires are fought.  When our fire was going on I was very upset that they would not fight fire at night when the fire laid down, but once I had the opportunity to fight a similar fire it became quite clear why they did not.    Safety of the people is the number one concern.  Everyone goes home unhurt is our goal.
> 
> Mike W0MU On 7/1/2013 4:58 PM, Dick-W0RAA wrote:
>> There were other areas that also needed help.  I would say that if al you basing your information on is what you allegedly heard on a scanner, then you are probably not totally aware of what was happening in the entire incident area.
>> 
>> Like I said, it's your call.  If you think that sticking around until the last minute is the way to go, then go for it.  The firefighters did a great job and laid their lives on the line.  I sure they had more to worry about than getting people to evacuate who are too stupid to take their advise.
>> 
>> Dick
>> My memory isn't as good as it used to be.
>> Also, my memory isn't as good as it used to be.
>> 
>> On Jul 1, 2013, at 4:34 PM, Mick Sparling <mickspa at comcast.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> After the evacuation, the resources left, leaving the homes undefended (no people in them)!  See the problem???
>>> 
>>> On 7/1/2013 2:54 PM, Dick-W0RAA wrote:
>>>> The firefighters are professional.  If they suggest mandatory evacuation you'd be smart to evacuate the area.  But it's your life and your property.  So, if you think you know all about it, then stay and take the risk.  Hopefully you will survive, but if not, we can all say he was a nice guy.
>>>> 
>>>> Dick
>>>> My memory isn't as good as it used to be.
>