County Should Buy Its Own SuperScoopers

The magnitude of the wildfire that ravaged Los Alamos, N.M., last month serves as a grim reminder, for residents of Topanga and other fire-prone areas, of the need for vigilance, preparation and protection.

While Topanga Arson Watch volunteers continue efforts to prevent wildfires, the community relies on the firefighting arsenal of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. During the height of fire season, the department leases two CL-415 SuperScoopers from the Service Aerien of Quebec. Because Santa Ana winds can occur during October and November when the danger of wildfires is greatest, the SuperScoopers, which can deliver 1,600 gallons of water and / or foam per drop very rapidly, provide additional firefighting resources with an initial attack capability aimed at extinguishing fires in the first few minutes.

What troubles many homeowners in Topanga and throughout the county is the prospect of wildfires that do not occur during the SuperScoopers lease period, which is generally for two months. Santa Ana wind conditions are often unpredictable and do not always return to Southern California on schedule. Wildfires are caused by lightning, accidents and arson. Operating the SuperScooper for a limited period of time is a calculated risk that invites another Los Alamos.

Would it not be wiser to own the aircraft and provide unlimited use of the SuperScooper in the event of wildfire emergencies outside of the dangerously limited annual lease period?

Topanga residents’ efforts to prevent fires through vigilance and brush clearance can only go so far. Wildfire disasters on the scale of Los Alamos should alert us to the need for the SuperScooper’s initial attack capability, which has been successful in limiting wildfires in France, Spain and Italy for more than 20 years.

A lease-purchase option would make the SuperScoopers a permanent element in the county Fire Department’s aerial firefighting arsenal and would provide the critical advantage to firefighters in knocking down fires before they burn out of control.

No one argues that the SuperScoopers are a panacea. Neither are they a replacement for other tools in the county’s firefighting arsenal. But they are the most technologically advanced firefighting equipment in the world. It is penny wise and pound foolish not to have this modern life and property-saving tool at the county’s disposal.

Some would argue that the county Fire Department cannot afford such a proven, modern firefighting tool. It can. When voters approved Measure E in 1997, at the request of the Fire Department, we assured an adequate flow of funding to support the department’s needs. In fact, the argument could be made that the county cannot afford not to have the SuperScoopers. If their use as an initial attack aircraft prevented just one fire from turning into a Los Alamos-type disaster, they would have paid for themselves many times over.

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In addition, it would be possible to lease the planes out to other fire-threatened states and countries, just as Quebec now leases them to us, thereby deriving revenue that would help offset the lease-purchase agreement.

Two years after El Nino’s heavy rains, the canyons and hillsides of the Santa Monica Mountains are covered with lush growth that will soon turn brown as the summer sun dries the land. According to William Patzert, an oceanographer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Topanga is situated on a “Santa Ana corridor, a hot spot” where wildfires are going to occur. Adding to the danger, Patzert says that rainfall in Southern California may be 30% less than normal over the next 20 to 30 years. If Patzert is right, the residents of Southern California could face prolonged fire danger.

Last year in California, six people died and more than 600 homes and other structures were destroyed in wildfires. Thousands of acres of brush, timber and watershed were charred. The losses and costs to the taxpayers of fighting these fires, which burned out of control in part because of a lack of modern aerial firefighting equipment, ran into the millions of dollars. The only major county at risk from wildfires that did not suffer losses of life or property was Los Angeles. The fact that we had SuperScoopers shows that our margin of safety was not a coincidence.

The county Board of Supervisors and county Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman are to be applauded for their foresight in bringing the SuperScoopers to the county for the last five years.

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Now, however, we face a heightened fire danger that could last for decades. The SuperScoopers have proved their value and effectiveness time and again, here and in other parts of the world. Must lives, homes and businesses be lost before supervisors take the obvious next step of providing the necessary, season-long protection that homeowners in Los Angeles County expect and demand?

This year’s fire season is already upon us. Isn’t the time for action now?