At least 9 separate fires rage as firefighters struggle to keep up

by Brian Leubitz

We were warned that due to the drought this was going to be a very bad fire year. However, just how bad is becoming painfully clear. Traditionally, we would be looking down the road a while from now before the most severe fire danger. However, there was no considerable rain this winter, and this early fire season shows it.

San Diego County authorities Wednesday declared a local emergency due to wildfires that destroyed more than 20 structures, including homes, in the northern part of the region. … Firefighters are battling wind-driven blazes in Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, Bonsall and Camp Pendleton. (San Diego 6)

The local declaration requests a similar state declaration, but the Governor has not yet issued that. When he does, that will allow the use of some state and federal resources.

Some footage of the firefighting from SD 6 is below. Stay safe out there.

This editorial in The Detroit News by Orjiakor N. Isiogu, chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission, very nearly perfectly sums up our argument.

Like HDTV before it, 4G-LTE wireless holds incredible promise for consumers and device manufacturers alike. But today there is insufficient wireless capacity to support millions of 4G-LTE devices, and demand is rising ever faster. According to Cisco Systems, mobile traffic is expected to increase 26-fold by 2015. By 2015 the majority of Internet traffic will be via mobile devices – a reality unthinkable just two years ago.

That’s why LightSquared’s venture is significant. It would substantially increase America’s broadband wireless capacity while providing next-generation high-speed wireless data and voice to areas previously underserved. In addition, the company plans to market its nationwide network on a wholesale model, allowing any number of new competitors to enter the market. Many observers have hailed this proposal as a key part of President Obama’s plan to increase high-speed Internet adoption nationwide, while also increasing competition in a consolidating wireless industry, all at zero cost to taxpayers, thanks to a planned $25 billion investment by the company.

More competitors in the market will mean lower prices and better service for consumers, along with expanded wireless broadband options. Another key benefit will be the economic benefit associated with building out a national network, including the creation of an estimated 15,000 jobs per year. Public safety could be enhanced by this network as well.

Simply put, whether you’re somewhere in urban Michigan or rural California, an expanded wireless network means more competition, lower prices, and better service. And we’re doing it all at zero cost to taxpayers.

For real – it is. And the truth is, that while all of this debate about the AT&T/T-Mobile merger is important, worthwhile and necessary, it’s also something of a red herring. Because at the end of the day the problem that the merger was initiated in part to address, the problem that will ultimately prevent new competition, stifle innovation and shut down the incredible potential to create jobs and grow the economy through broadband investment remains.

And that problem is SPECTRUM.

And if there’s something we know a little bit about, it’s the need for more spectrum.

Check out this very excellent article written by Jeff Kagen at E-Commerce Times, “Let’s Solve the Real Wireless Problem: Spectrum Shortage” http://www.technewsworld.com/s…

Few topics today are generating as much discussion as the seemingly insatiable demand for mobile data and how our country is going to keep pace with it. The United States has set a national goal to provide 98 percent of Americans with broadband access within the next five years. LightSquared is stepping up to help make this a reality. We are contributing $14 billion in private investment over the next eight years to build a nationwide wireless broadband network using 4G-LTE technology integrated with satellite coverage. This represents a $14 billion private sector-not government-investment in America’s infrastructure.

The deployment and management of the LightSquared network will, in turn, create new jobs. We expect to generate more than 15,000 direct and indirect jobs in each of the next five years. And that’s just the beginning of what the LightSquared network will help bring to California and across the country.

LightSquared will offer network capacity on a wholesale-only basis. This is a dramatic departure from the current vertically integrated model in the wireless industry, and it will open the broadband market to new players such as retailers, cable companies, and device manufacturers, to name a few. This means that end users – consumers like you – will enjoy the benefits of innovation, increased competition, and choice.

Last, but not least, the LightSquared integrated 4G-LTE-satellite network will provide much-needed access to consumers, businesses, healthcare facilities, tribal communities, and public safety agencies throughout rural America. Across the country, we will serve critical public sector needs such as emergency preparedness and seamless communications in times of crisis.

One of the reasons we are so committed to bringing wireless connectivity to the underserved rural United States was seen in action this past spring. As storms and a tornado ripped through the south, websites were posting potentially lifesaving real-time information. But because broadband Internet access and adoption in Alabama is below the national average, many residents missed out on the advance warning. This is unacceptable. The United States should be the global leader in delivering wireless broadband to all of its citizens, regardless of whether they live in rural Alabama or downtown Los Angeles.

Not sure I need to add much to this:

California’s once-acclaimed mutual aid system among local fire departments, key to fighting the state’s increasing number of massive brush fires, is being undercut by tight budgets, fire officials warned a legislative hearing Wednesday.

Mutual aid response to the Station fire, the largest fire in Los Angeles County history, was down by a third over past Southland brush fires, officials told a session of the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management.

“We handled the Station fire because it was the only fire and was . . . not wind-driven,” said Sheldon Gilbert, Alameda County fire chief and president of the California Fire Chiefs Assn. “Heaven forbid if we have two or three fires that are wind-driven,” he said.(LAT 9/24/09)

These are part of the trickle-down cuts.  The cuts to the local governments are playing out on local fire departments, resulting in the loss of mutual aid.

It’s all well and dandy that the Republicans run over and over again on public safety. It would just be nice if they bothered to actually do something about it.

Over at the Disaster Accountability Blog, we get another complication in the prison mess.

According to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation press release, “there are 2,245 adult inmates and 53 Division of Juvenile Justice youth deployed to fires statewide, including Los Angeles, Riverside, and 15 other counties,” under the supervision of “187 correctional officers and supervisors.” According to Reuters, “Inmates collectively did 3.1 million hours of emergency firefighting last year at $1 an hour.” California relies heavily on this labor and many worry that a release of 27,000 or more low-risk inmates will forfeit their availability.

There is no doubt that we owe a big debt of gratitude to the pair of brave firefighters that died in the line of duty. However, to base our prison policy on our firefighting needs is sheer madness. In theory, that would tell you to, what, hold more non-violent prisoners who are capable of outside work in prison simply to fight fires?

While it is nice that our prisons can be used in this manner, and it allows the prisoners to actually gain skills and experience which will help them down the line, it is not the point of the prison system. The point is to protect Californians and to rehabilitate the prisoners back into society. Planning our prison system to meet the needs of our fire situation is pretty much the definition of ass-backwards.