Its great to hear we are getting extra manpower to help fight the fires.
I have one question. Has RS lost their proof readers?

This article would earn an "F" in any high school English class. Unbelievable!

F+

Watch out now Femas involved. Remember Katrina

Looks good to me. You must be, or were, an English teacher.

Please give specifics on why this article would earn an "F" in any high school English class.

I have a lot more confidence in CalFire as the lead agency and FEMA writing them checks to reimburse costs.

The Feds have a track record of bureaucracy which wastes money, gets in the way of people doing the job and does little good.

A basic rule of management is to establish the ownership of a problem. Calfire owns this problem and nothing should be done to undermine them.

So far, CalFire has managed the teams from nearby states and the federal government quite well.

CalFire will handle this series of events. The FEMA team has already stuck their foot in their mouth by announcing to all that THEY are here now and all will be saved ... It's State Responsibility Area and FEMA needs to get the heck out of Dodge before they REALLY screw things up !!!

All state and local emergency services are an integral part of NIMS. If FEMA steps in and says they are now in charge, there is nothing CAL-FIRE can do but their job under FEMA.

I would feel more secure if their quotes didn't sound like they were fresh out of bureaucrat training camp. Are they actually going to waste firefighting time with truck inspections and paperwork? I am glad that CalFire wasn't hampered by these guys when these fires started. Thanks to all the firefighters who have been doing an exceptional job.

I can relate to all of the concern with the feds being involved. However, its what comes along with the money, and money is what we need to obtain resources. Just think for one minute how much area is under attack and how under-resourced our guys are. The majority of these fires are still out of control. I for one am glad that this incident has FINALLY reached this level of attention! BTW what kind of a grade do I get for my comment?

Something I picked out quickly... what does this sentence even mean? "After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 and, along with the formation of Homeland Security,the federal government created the National Incident Management System— universal training for first responders across the country on how to deal with a national-level catastrophe." It's like a run-on fragment. The punctuation is pretty bad, too. (In the whole article, not necessarily the quoted sentence.)

The reason that these contractor vehicles are inspected is to make sure that they are safe and in good condition to do the job that they are contracted for. For example, say you rented your water truck to the feds. It has a cracked frame or a dead pump and you may or may not be aware of the problem. More than one contractor has claimed damage such as that were incurred during fire service and demanded repair or replacement. Operator qualifications must be verified for everyone's safety. Timber fallers are another example with chainsaws. You can't let just anyone out on a fire because they want to help out and make some extra bucks. Hope that clarifies things.

Hope FEMA fights fires better than they drain floods.

To add on to Baseball's post, CDF does vehicle and equipment inspections for those who have signed up just prior to fire season. There isn't a piece of equipment, or personnel for that matter, that hasn't the stamp of approval from the agency in charge.

No matter what, Cal Fire and all of our local Fire Departments are my HEROS; hopefully FEMA and their bureaucratic ways won't get in their way. The cost of this command center sure would pay for a lot of resources. I say just leave the money at the door and let CDF coordinate the resources, they have done a heck of a job so far with what they had to work with.
THANK YOU Cal Fire!

So they are providing $30 million, and will be here until November? In an area the size of the Butte, Mendocino and Shasta regions, we could spend $30 million in a few weeks. The money will be gone but the Feds will still be here. Who's money will they be spending then? November is over 4 months away.

Great, just what we need: BIG GOVERNMENT stepping in and doing what individual citizens should do. Sure, FEMA had great success in places like New Orleans, but we're not a bunch of Bush haters like the citizens of New Orleans are: we believe in taking care of ourselves.

As far as I'm concerned, we should put out our own fires and not rely on the government to help us out. People can drive to Home Depot, get out their credit cards, and buy their own hoses. This is what America is about!! And on a July 4th weekend. Frankly, I'm disappointed.

Who do you think owns Forest Service lands?

I appreciate their presence.

scolbert:

I will not feed the troll. I will not feed the troll. I will not feed the troll. I will not feed the troll.

FEMA... another government bureaucracy joke that needs to be disbanded. No wait, that would increase the national unemployment figures!

You know, this article was about FEMA, and its involvement in fighting our fires. It would be nice if you could keep your eye on the ball here. If you'd like to pick every single article the RS writes apart, perhaps you should go to them and ask them to hire you as a proof reader. I don't give two hoots about run-on fragments. I just wanted to read the story and gather information.

and that goes for the first three posters of this story, too. Geez people.

Thank GAWD for any help we get with these fires, and don't understand why things have to get to such massive danger levels to get serious help.

scolbert - go buy your hoses and help out, if it makes you feel useful, instead of complaining! $:o(

Quentin Tarantino dropped out of high school. He wrote and directed how many movies? I guess an English degree isn't everything, now is it RS posters? I'll try to feel bad about my grammar and spelling all the way to the bank. Bwahahahaha, but really its sad that teachers make so little money.

You are so right, the word on the street is that FEMA is preparing to bulldoze wide swaths of firelanes, along with lighting numerous back fires in the heart of Redding, to protect the WalMart in Anderson. Someone else said that they are considering seeding the clouds with silver iodide, in further efforts to save this retail landmark.
You may want to direct hose purchasers to go to the super center, in that Home Depot may be consumed in the back fires!

Right on DaisyD!

Grammar, spelling, languages in general, all evolve over time unlike some people.

FEMA should send one GS-9 female employee with a checkbook to reimburse expense vouchers, no strings attached. She can rent a car, collect per diem and stay at a motel. She should have no control over the agencies which have done so well so far.

I consider myself still part of the young, hip online crowd, but jizmon, please write as if you were writing a college paper. If I'm on reddit, myspace or youtube I'll expect that language. But here, we write coherently so all can understand.

As for my FEMA thoughts...not sure. I'm going to have to sit tight and observe this one. They may pull through, they may get in the way. Who knows. Never had them up here before have we? I wonder where they fit in the chain of command? If they are assisting state-only fires in NorCal, do they operate under or over the NorCal GACC? Does it add to one more (or ten more) signatures to get their Gatorade and ice delivered to the firelines?

On a positive note, I welcomed a USFS Type 4 engine from Superior National Forest in Montana here Friday evening. They said they checked into the FEMA center in Redding and were quickly assigned to the Butte Complex. First I heard of FEMA being here. They were filling their little tank in the Sac River at a boat ramp.

FEMA will be the logistical support for CALFIRE the ordering point for equipmnet and personnel, They wont be directly involved in any of the day to day command decisions. As big an agencie as CALFIRE is they are being hard pressed to manage all these fires on thier own.

Hey, someone asked, I answered. I didn't bring it up. I don't care who they hire as a proof reader, as long as they get one. :) I'll make sure I run my comments by you next time, make sure they're ok!

Why don't you anal people diagram sentences someplace else (maybe on Uranus) and stay on topic? This isn't an english class, just some folks stating thier opinion.

Hey 57 chevy it's all our money - no matter who spends it. We just hope it goes to putting out the fires and not something that has nothing to do with them.

I suggest sending bill to McCain's wife, and perhaps that might make her think twice about wanting to be First Lady!

You do realize that more than 250,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the San Diego fires? That's more than twice the population of the entire city of Redding. If you've been out recently, you'd see that the hotels along Hilltop are filled with Cal Fire vehicles as well as the firefighters from around the state that have come to help. Using 84 Lumber as a STAGING ground for FEMA is a fantastic solution.

I agree - we're very fortunate here!

Our fires are all pretty much sleeping giants. There were runs in the Whiskeytown unit today, in fact. If the wind comes up to even a mild but normal wind speed, The entire fire situation will be incredibly out of control. To put it in perspective, we may need all of the help we can get, and we have been extremely lucky up to this point. Todays winds were mild today, possibly under 15 mph, and we had quite a little run in Whiskeytown. We could have another situation like the Megram fire in Trinity county with winds causing ridge runs 20 miles long in a matter of hours and multiple spot fires starting as far as five miles away if the wind comes up. So, bring it on feds, as this could blow up at any time.

My question is what will FEMA actually be doing. Tasked performed? They are not trained firefighters, they do not operate the bulldozers to fight fire lines, they did not turn the water and power on. Local contractors are hired to do that. The $30 mil cover their staging costs, mobilization costs, computer costs, and per dium. How do I get a job their??? LOL.........
But Anyway, fighting fires anywhere takes lots of time and money..... Get ready for a long and smokey summer in Norcal....

“All of us — regardless of where we come from—understand incident command,”Salomon said
“You’ve got to think big,”he said.

Before I start with these two comments, I have something to say off topic. jizmonizlm, Please go back to school, I understand public education in CA is not rank that high, but at least you would be able to form a coherent sentence...ignoramus.

Ok, to this quotes. I think I have heard something deeper from Bill Clinton when he said he did not sleep with anyone.

I know the command call and protocol, but FEMA? I mean we didn't like them when I was in Fire Academy.

FEMA's in ability ti manage anything has been shown time, and time again. Now, before you go to the fire fill out these 300 forms, and give all the trucks 215 point inspections and make sure the water is pure so we don't ruin the ground water there. This will e a great sight to see.

PFD is on the fire line, and if you know anything about PFD, they are good, they rank higher than NYC's FD. Arizona spends over 80% of its public safety budget to them (I know I did a report on them). They handle pretty much all calls from, snake removal, animal rescue, to obviously Fires.

CalFire, Volunteer crew, and out of state, even Canada, thank you for your efforts, and I hope FEMA doesn't get you killed. Glad FEMA stayed out of it with Jones Valley, and Bear Mountain fires..thank you.

FEMA has taken over, we are all going to die!!! RUN!

Nice thought, but are you going to pay for those rooms? The Red Cross has only the funds that we donate. They do not receive any other funding. They do assist with people who have been burned out of their homes, but do not pay for fire-fighters. Federal fire fighters and employees use a Federal Credit Card issued to them for lodging needs, so in essence, we the taxpayers are funding their stays. I am not sure about CalFire and other state personell.

I am not sure about what all the hotels on Hilltop offer, but I know of one (Oxford Suites, I have stayed there) that offers free breakfast and at least 2 free drinks (beer or wine) to each of their customers. (Even the kids can get two free sodas or juice!) So maybe the other hotels are offering extra things for these brave men.

More good news re FEMA coming to town:

"Last month, CNN revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had stored $85 million worth of household items in warehouses for two years. Instead of giving the supplies to victims of the 2005 hurricane, FEMA declared them surplus and gave them all away to federal agencies and 16 states in February."

Hope we don't get this kind of help. Last year FEMA destroyed tons(literally) of ice they had planned to give to Katrina victims. Stored it in refrigerated trucks for two years and then dumped it out to melt. Good work, boys.........

The help these sleeping fire giants need are fire fighting resources, firefighters and equipment not FEMA administrators! As usual along with the Federal money comes the high paid administrators. I have faith that Cal Fire Officers (already familiar with what they need and where) would know what to do with the money. But now they have to take time out and educate the FEMA administrators with the hope they will make the right decisions.

Don't forget that FEMA is also offers assistance to those who have lost their homes or had damage to property due to the fires. Don't get me wrong it's a flawed agency, but how do you prepare for a disaster, when each disaster is different?

To prevent public misconceptions about fire management in Northern California and reported FEMA presence in Redding the following bullet points are offered:

• The “Base” at the old 84 Lumber store is not a FEMA operation. This base was established as the first “check-in” and inspection point for out-of-state crews and equipment reporting to Northern California.
• This base and associated overhead personnel are being funded by federal monies which were made available following the approval of aPresidential Emergency declaration. This declaration was requested by Governor Schwarzenegger. As per the Governor’s office Press Release on June 27, 2008:

“Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sent the following letter to President Bush through Nancy Ward, Federal Emergency Management Agency Regional Administrator, Region IX, requesting that he expeditiously declare an emergency for the State of California as a result of the more than 1,000 fires ignited by lightning and the 265,000 acres that have burned to date. The Governor is requesting direct federal assistance, debris removal and emergency protective measures, including air and ground firefighting resources, evacuation operations and sheltering of displaced people and animals for the counties of Butte, Mendocino, Monterey, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta and Trinity.”

For a full text of the letter, please go to http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/10017/

• The out-of-state resources are being provided pursuant to this request by Governor Schwarzenegger. The staff running the base reports to the U.S. Forest Service National Incident Management Team based here at the Northern Operations Command Center in Redding.
• At this time the “84 Base” is only for fire resources and no FEMA personnel are staffed there for federal assistance.
• CAL FIRE and U.S. Forest Service are jointly managing fire efforts and will ultimately decide where these fire crews will be sent. FEMA does not have operational authority to coordinate fire resources.
• FEMA is funding the resources processed through “84 Base” for CAL FIRE Incidents. Crews are responding from throughout the United States.
• For more information on fires in Northern Ca, please go to www.jointinformation.com