The raging fires in Malibu and the adjacent areas bring to the forefront a simple question: why isn’t use being made of the large fixed-wing aircraft that are stationed on the Channel Islands? What are they-the mayor of Malibu and our governor-waiting for? It seems that common sense stops short of the offices of the California governments. Please write, urgently, that the governor and the mayor of Malibu order these aircraft to be deployed without waiting until the time when it is too late to prevent the destruction of our precious California nature, the habitat wildlife, the fauna and flora all around us and people’s work places and their homes.! The cost of using the fixed-wing aircraft is miniscule when compared to the cost of the destruction and havoc created by the fires, anywhere.
The Griffith Park fire caused an estimated one billion dollars in damage that could have been mitigated, had the fixed-wing aircraft been utilized from the beginning. Can you write about it so that we do not allow this error to be repeated again? Can you contact your mayor and the city’s council members?
A few years ago we experienced the terror of nearby fires and our hearts go out to the affected Malibu residents. Gov. Wilson lost a re-election because of his inaction in the face of the fires around the San Diego area. Maybe the current governor will be next.
Arlene Finn and Richard A. Finn
Newport Beach