by Bob Walsh
The formerly great state of California is asking that question right now. They are out of resources to fight the huge fires that are tearing thru the tinder dry state. They have been importing fire fighters from Australia. Last week more than 900 requests for equipment went unanswered because the equipment was not available.
In the 2012 fire season there were 134 unwilled mutual aid requests for fire engines and water tenders. In the 2016 fire season that number was 3,029.
The basic structure for California's mutual aid system is 75 years old and is considered to be one of the best in the country. Trouble is when you have many more requests for aid than you have aid available the old "we used to be good" doesn't mean much.
1 comment:
Second paragraph should say UNFILED, not UNWILLED. My bad.
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