HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-08-24 Public Comment - J. Coomer - Solutions to Earthquakes, Forest Fires and Floods Zile to tie addw4dedUtgn a4 d eouwd W eow&w
sa""d to ,
;D&aQet 74ed & ea Est 7vt fa padti that fle aut�iaz d aaQiatiaa fa eanttu��uuzled cd
Aw4aed to 4 orooneorafed lfodd ;vu$et 74 a ouw;o 4 ozone
eofPi&4 d4a Sdcaoa d &glt 4a ad fled ate& ataa crave &w4 Ama aaefl fle meddage
is 46 aateC& POAVWay oaaaead a<e& adw 6W& N&r to da, dad it cd Awd feted tlsat 4l8%
wd act dad &afie0d a,= d doued o4acta w, AddaonGag flat decry ali& act ad pcedected
ad d ety 6wo tle o4aw eaaaegaeoaed 4 ao ae m, It emU eo d fle d segm t Wed 06
d&Aea y a id pedr,'cted that ion &w tlaa too Wow, tt:e eaaaage 4 e4V4pa ew&
eadt eoa &&z 4 tcone Ammitd, atifl a 4 a jrlrc a ded� m modvied to 4
M*eaded aad flat act a&w MaAa tl eon eaatlf"&-AW4, . 4au tle anew 4
tiao mewd wed a ona#T oae, it id Awdr. &d f4t dew upe& 4 onmmam Ana,Ae N
�. keaa eaazm&&a, aad emta44 as 414,44w, 9d fled aot fle mmu fle o nu flat
aye a& deekt 4 wmU afore mV4aa,6e4 as ao &ouw Be aaa&*wd dxagmow m a
eoacewt
Ile orext and 44 flat tied aaflmz trod eaueo a a a md& dd &m to ,(aneat o4w.
qe Aaopded to el age tl u SOP #ow a ywwd aAezatiaa to as an oae " dotoat
a, dad&e tle e-5 5F4& ay, 9a&pd mig ffa AwAodd & to &w eoaqua cot addw"
to PO&V fle coacvw&a coif¢, a fa ad ?)w f w 4n &ww aad
4 d ede qia & fa r& 4aa y flat a& id Mftowd uqi ftie,4�7 id Pyuuy de
otudaeoad, fl# w& aAeue to& gaa&, (1) 74# use& ead a& "ona faz " pwat
kmiae tl ety aid a& Be exteotgutd" 4v am 40"#wmw ocg o6a keoo ring .,m4 faz
owed, (2) Wed de,457 At y de ouida&w " As'-47 egui mmt, flat 44 tiw4c&d to
ead de need� n msftcted a&cat# do flat Ameam aad de ameagted u"ac„ r&a oil
eord,
74 Bast oore & to eo d a&Oode rq add a Nraddae zatmad 76w d em*d
pognaon flat a eO&&a & fle �.
P"CA4 e, &Ootm,
360-929-2397
January 1, 2024
Addressed Mayor and Council Member.
Subject.A number of Ideas not listed.
Dear addressed Mayor and Council Member,
A Solution to Forest Fies
Impacting more people, let's consider his proposed solution to forest fires first. His proposed solution is
to change the standard operating procedure (SOP)from a ground operation using an army of fire fighters on the
ground assisted by a few tanker aircraft from the air,both fixed and rotary wing birds,to an almost strictly an
air one using the largest transports that the USAF has in its inventory,the C-5 Galaxy. (According to the
internet they have 52 model C-5Ms in active duty and one may find a dozen or more previous models stored in
the Arizona aircraft boneyard in near airworthy condition. This model is equipped with the 51,000 pound-thrust
engines where those in the boneyard have the original 42,000 thrust engines. The C-5 has a payload of 183.000
pounds (33,000 gallons of water)but it is estimated that the payload can be increased to 40,000 gallons by
limiting their fuel load to a 3-hour mission.)Integral with this change is for Congress to assign the
resyonsibility for crews and maintenance of these monsters to the USA. It is assumed that enough birds will
be converted to tankers and each AF base would have enough of these assigned to satisfy the need to transport
the quantity of water(assuming an ASAP response)to extinguish all the in a single pass.
To estimate the quantity needed and even with an ASAP response,by the time aircraft arrive,the new
fire has grown to 10 acres in size. To have confidence in extinguishing the fire in a single pass,the area needs to
be soaked with an estimated 3/4 of an inch of water. The calculation is: (10 X 43,560 X 144 X 0.75)/231 =
203,657 or 204,000 gallons. If the C-5 is used, they would need S C-5 loads. CalFire,the California branch of
the Forest Service (FS)has a fleet of small tankers made by Grumman called model S-2T with a payload of
1,200 gallons. If it is used, it would require 170 loads, an absurdity since they only have 22 of them. In reality,
the numbers are even worse. This fleet is distributed around the State and one can predict that only 6 would
respond to a fire delivering a total of 7,200 gallons. That is only 3.5% of the quantity 204,000 galllons needed.
Should all be approved and delivered with the USAF crewing the missions,they are predicted to achieve
two major goals which are: (1)An end of"maior"forest fires because all of them would be extinguished in
their infancy and that prevents them from becoming"mc{ior"ones. (2) With the USAF,fving the missions in
USAF eauivment, there would be no reauirement for contracted aircraft and that practice and the associated
and obvious corruption would endl
The impact on the FS is impressive.Although they may need a few firefighters to go in and extinguish a
few smoldering embers and to make certain that the fire does not re-ignight, most of that army of firefighters
will be discharged. (This author recommends that our forest be better maintained by requiring an army of our
youth for the summer to remove the brush and excess trees, etc. so the forest is"walkable"with far less fuel for
a future fire. The forest can then be just giant tree farms self-supporting by supplying the lumber industry with
logs. This would be a small step in the goal of this Nation is to have a war-time economy without a war!) With
a major reduction in its manpower requirements, CalFire would be transformed from the world's largest fire
department to one of the smaller ones. The amount of forest burnt every season is predicted to change from -
being measured in square mile to be measured in acres,possibly less than 100 acres for the season. The
firefighting budgets are predicted to be drastically reduced by more than 50%including the USAF expenditures.
With the greatly reduced risk, for people living in forested areas will see their fire insurance rates are predicted
to be lowered substantially. Finally,the folks that live in forested areas can now sleep peacefully knowing that
much of what they own and love will not be destroyed by a forest fire.
Keep in mind,that the top priority is to change their SOP for the FS. Mentioned in the 2nd goal is the
obvious corruption in its atrcraft contracting practices. Powerful evidence of this corruption is contract
7CA05094 for the 2020 fire season for a tiny 2-place Bell 214 helicopter. In the Contract CalFire agreed to pay
the Contractor$9,000 per day for"availability"and $2,245.90 per hour for flying time. For the 90 day contract
season,the aircraft was flown for 40.7 hours and the contractor was paid $914,285,84, Dividing the cost by the
hours flown, the cost per hour is $22,464.27. (One may estimate that if there was competition, one should be
able to contract this 214 hp chopper for less than $1,000 an hour!) On the same attached table, one may note
that for contract 7CA05090, CalFire paid for availability $18,950 and for contract 7CA05093 they paid $27,995
per day for the same model 5-54 Skycrane. (Unfortunately, this author is not qualified to evaluate the
availability and use charges, but that would need a qualified team to determing if the charges are fair for both
the FS and the contractor.) Consider that these contracts are "negotiated" and one can only guess at what is
agreed to in private!
For the 2022 fire season shown in the attached excel spreadsheet, although this writer requested for each
contracted aircraft, for the use charge,the cost per hour,the hours used, and the total cost are needed. For
availability, he requested the charge per day, the days charged, and the total paid per month and season are
needed. He received for use, only the hours used and for availability, only the total paid per month.As one can
realize such incomplete data is useless. (It is hoped that others with legal muscle will request this data too as
all should realize that CalFire is very corrupt.)
An item worth a discussion is the total paid in 2022 for availability for August for Neptune's 373
aircraft, The table shows the Agency ivas paid. $7,801,000. Logically the number should have been only
$801,000 and that computes to $26,700 per day. (If it were $7,801,000, that would make the availability daily
charge of$260,033 per day, an absurdity! It means that CalFire paid the Contractor$7.000,000 that was not
'usti redl
The author wrote to AG Garland requesting that his office investigate. There was no response. He wrote
to the California State AG.He responded that I complain to the Auditor. The writer did, but there was no
response.
Look,Republican folks. The Party needs to champion this change in their SOP to big aircraft. Logically,
if the Party were to champion the issue, it is possible that "maior"forest fires would end. Is there a possibility
worth adding this issue to the Republican Platform for 2024.
A Solution to Earthquakes
Next, is to grasp the need for a solution to earthquakes, In the massive 7.8 quake that struck the Turkey-
Syria area,the authorities confirmed that 50,783 died in Turkey and another 8,476 in Syria. MAN meaning
mankind needs to come up with a viable solution to this problem. To evaluate farther, one can reason that it is
not the quake that causes so many fatalities, but it is the failing structures that lack the structural strength to
absorb the enormous dynamic loads that major quakes create. That would be the solution to the earthquake
problem.. To clarify, if one can design or modify structures to be earthquake-proof, then that would be a
solution to earthauakes!
It happened in 1993, some 30 years ago while mentally thinking about earthquakes, their destructive
power, etc. and how the quake will transfer that motion to anything that is connected to the quake-moving
earth, he asked himself this trivial question. "What if the item is suspended then it would not be connected to
the quake-moving earth? Then it would be impossible for the quake to force a suspended item to move. With
no movement, then there would be no or few dynamic loads generated and none to absorb. The conclusion is
the suspended item would be earl:quake proof, able to survive unharmed b-y anVquake, even a magnitude 10
(Keep in mind that this is feasible because there is no motion.)
The hope that their reader, possible the Chair or a Member of the Executive Committee, will have
some intelligence will read believe what he writes. Try to understand that his ideas are beyond belief. When
one writes articles that are beyond belief, none will believe them.
Next,try to understand why he keeps trying. The reason is he is convinced that he is the unique person
with this critical knowledge.A solution to the maladies of earthquakes, forest fires and floods. His story may
remind one of a fairy tale but this one is true.
To understand the big picture, much of his problems focuses on the one Agency FEMA that people
rely on and respect both for their size and their technical people employed by the Agency. One would believe
that if a person wrote them a letter claiming that he has a solution to either forest r1res or earthquakes or
both, they would at least investigate and determine itthe,claim had any merit. His computer records show
that he wrote the following letters numbered and dated(1) November 19, 2021. (2)April 9. 2V2, Q) June
2022, (4 July 6, 2022, (5) October 3, 2022, (6) Feb. 4, 2023, (7)August 20, 2023, (8Z September 12, 2023, (9Z
November 15, 2023 and(10)December 16, 2023. Some letters requested that the Agency evaluate his forest
fire solution or his earthquake solution, and a few requested that the Agency evaluate both solutions. The
Agency never responded to any of his request. With this mornings news of JanuaryIof a massive 7.5 quake
that struck Japan, makes those in the Agency the target of an involuntary manslaughter charge for their
it-responsible action as obviously they used only their opinion to reject his several letters! (He also requested
that EERI and even his letter to PEER to investigate his solution to earthquakes. There has been no
response from either earthquake engineering research Agencies.) Most recently he has requested earthquake
research "think tanks"staffed with doctorate degree staff located at the University of Texas, TAMU, Penn.
State, Buffalo University, CalTech, and others and none have responded His major effort has been to the
publishers of newspapers totaling over 100 papers multiple times advocating solutions to both earthquakes
and to forest fires, and again there has not been a single response. (In a weak defense of the newspaper
publishers, they have a major responsibility of protecting their paper's reputation and for a solution of issues
of this importance, they demand proof and for obvious reasons, there is none. Now one may understand the
big picture. Try as he does many times, it is impossible for him to get his work published and then many
would know his proposed solutions to both maladies of Nature.
(The reason that he is going to extreme detail, is that he wants to make all readers, to be believers.) Tr
to comprehend that several thousand lives could be saved in the future. Also if you are a disbeliever, words
have no meaning and we are both wasting our time. He hopes that the readers will accept the truth and not
declare my work just BS!)
One understands the current and past engineers and researchers have been trying seemingly forever
trying to solve this problem. Yes, they have managed to achieve some minor success. Currently,they are able to
design structures strong enough to survive a quake of roughly 6.0 strength magnitude. What is really needed is a
solution that allows structures to survive unharmed by even the maximum quake of magnitude 10. (Understand
that the scale is logarithmic meaning that a magnitude 10 quake is 40 times stronger than a magnitude 6.0
one. In reality, a 6.0 quake is trivual compared to a magnitude 10 one.
His proposed solution uses suspension as explained earlier, and not wanting to explain the concept
again, one accepts that the vision is that the structure is suspended by coil spring supports. Each support starts
with a section of pipe roughly 24 inches in diameter buried just enough in the earth to provide stability. On
top of a number of these spring supports is a suspension beam and then the structure. (See Illustrations A and B)
Imagine that in a quake,the quake moves the pipe section and the special fitting on top. (The fitting is special as
is designed to be screwed to provide some height adjustment for the suspended structure.)Normally, the quake
will move each pipe section and its fitting in sync with the qualce's motions. The coil spring is designed to
absorb nearly all of the motion of the quake. The suspension beam and suspended structure will move little if
any and is considered earthquake proof!
In designing these suspended structures, one accepts that there is a cardinal rule, that the suspended item
cannot have hard ties to anything hard-tied to the quake-moving earth. This would allow the quake-moving
earth to force the suspended structure to move and that would cancel the benefits of suspension. This means
that a suspended structure can have no foundation as that would be a hard-tie and a violating of the cardinal
rule. (On new construction,the cost savings from having no foundation requirements may offset much of the
cost for the new suspension beams and spring supports required to suspend the structure.)
Next is to vision that the crawl space under the structure will still need to be covered. It is
recommended that skirting the same as found in mobile homes be considered but with a major new requirement.
The skirting cannot be hard-tied to both as that violates the suspension rule. There are two options. One is to
fasten the top of the skirting to the non-moving suspended structure and the skirt bottom is loosely installed in a
channel fastened to something like a treated 2" X 4" that is fastened to a small concrete footing installed in the
earth. The second option is just the opposite . Both concepts allow the quake-moving earth to move without
transmitting the quake's motion to the suspended structure. (See Illustration C for the skirting installation.)
(Volumes more can and will be written concerning the suspension concept but in the interest of brevity,
this is it as it explains the basics of the concept.)
Please. Party Leaders. Include this item on the 2024 Party Platform too.
A National Flood Control Program
The next malady that this author is proposing is a solution to flooding. Except for using much more
computer and GPS technology than in previous dams and their reservoir construction, their design and
construction is much the same. The major difference is how they are used and their financing. The changes
from current concept are:
There are two classes of dams ,primary and secondary identical except how they are used. Nearly all
primary dams have already been built and are performing their flood control mission as designed. Nearly all
new ones are classed as secondary, These dams and their reservoirs are iust(Iry lakes with their exit valves
remaining oven and are only closed to prevent a predicted immediate flooding and then only enough to prevent
it. With this concept, 100% of the new dam reservoir's capacity is available for flood control. (Sure, there are
hybrids where the lake is primary to a predetermined water level and then secondary above that level.)
With the reservoir land being maintained as a dry lake, the land owner still owns the land and uses it normally
with few restrictions. The land owner is paid an annual fee estimated from 5 to 10% of the market value of just
the reservoir land for the "right-to-flood." The land owner has no risk as the owner or his tenet is
compensated for all reasonable losses should the reservoir land be used for flood control.
The vision is the goal of this massive program similar to the TVA one constructed in the 1930's, but
more than a magnitude larger solving the flooding problems in every state from the flash floods of the desert
to the extreme rainfall events from hurricanes along our coast as they often dump more than 30 inches of rain.
There would be enough ofthese dry lake dams and reservoirs constructed to prevent all flooding any event at
a minimum of cost.
A Wartime economy without a War
The next item is a total new concept that is predicted to be popular is all governments need a war-time
economy but without a war.Another point is a major function of government is to circulate money. There is so
much work to do that is justified like these many dams for flood control or that army of our youth that are
needed to keep our forest pristine and the list is endless. Like in a time of war, people need to pay the high taxes
in order to keep the financial books balanced. The result is the taxes are high but all are working and enjoying
life,the infrastructure is being improved, etc. (One can understand that countries like Mexico. taxes too little,
and the infrastructure is not being improved as there are no funds available, and money is not being circulated.)
(Although one has little proof, government workers in Mexico are very corrupt.An example is the money paid
for a fishing license, little of it gets back to the government so there are no docks for the fishing boats. (Sure this
author may be mistaken, but this is his opinion.)
Part-time Retirement
The next item proposed is "part-time"retirement. Generally, people enjoy their job and working.The
concept is a person can at around 60 years of age start working part time and still have almost a normal salary.
(This slightly less than normal salary may be feasible by tapping into the pension and social security funds to
make up this difference.)
In the current system there is no compromise. One either works full time or is full time retired. When
the person works full time, he has to time for cruises, etc. that one may enjoy. When a person retires, the
person has the time and no money. The Part-Time concept may make it feasible to do both.
Party Leadership,because the concept could become very popular, consider adding it to the Platform.
No Bad People,ittst Bad Leaders
There are no bad people in the world,just bad leaders. Hitler was a bad leader as the German people are
wonderful. Putin is a bad leader, but the Russian people too are wonderful. It is not believed that they share
Putin's ambition of recreating Russia into a new Soviet Union,becouse_it is their blood and labor that is_
required for Putin to achieve this goal.
Consider that Putin is holding much of Russia's wealth hostage, both human and financial, in order for
Russia to achieve this goal. In turn he is also holding a significant portion of the West's wealth hostage in order
to defend against almost all planned future aggression that only Putin wants.
The conclusion is Putin is the enemy of all, both the Russian people and the people that live in the
west. (Because Putin does not live on an Island,he may respond to what others think and then it would be
justified to add this item to the Platform
Can the Jew and the Arab live together in Peace?
Even before the time of Christ, the Jews and the Arabs have been at war.
One must creditAnwar Sadat to recognize that conflict was not the answer. He realized the true facts.-
Israel was militarily too strong and the Arab world was too week. He realized that almost every ten years or so,
there would be a major war between these two peoples.
His peace accord with Israel was an epic event. This is realized today that without it, the Egyptians
would be burying their loved ones killed in the current conflict and the event would be mirrowed in Israel,
doing the same for their loved ones. Parents in both races are not looking at the children they are raising and
will not question will their children will enjoy a normal life and will not be cut short by being sacrificed in
some future conflict.
Then there are two questions that need to be asked and answered as both races call this area of the
world home. Can the Arab world abandon its goal of annihilating Israel?The second question is can Israel
accept the Arabs as equal Israel citizens with the same benefits of government as their Jervs eniov? (Granted,
this author is blind to the plight of their Arab citizens have and can offer no opinion.)
In the States, this author witnessed a darker time in this Nation's history with a similar conflict behveen
the black and the white races with the whites fleeing if blacks moved into their community. The whites were
concerned that the blacks would destroy their"values."But in time, the whites began to realize that the blacks
shared the same values so there were no problem!Today we witness this change in so many areas, especially
sports where team members love each other and race plays no part!
Can this transformation be duplicated in that area of the world?
Volumes more can be and may be written, but this is it. It is with some hope that his solutions have
earned much respect!
Sincerel ,
0 oomer
2 0 North Heller Road, unit# E
Oak Harbor, WA 98277
Phone: 360-929-2397
Email:joseph.coomerjc@gmail.com
it
Illustration # A
Suspension Support
Suspended Structure
This area moves
little or none Suspension
during a quake Fastened together Beam
Plate
Welded
Coil Springti'
Fastened together
ti.
r�1' t ;
r ..2 rS t r
7 s' - r r r
'. 77._t L..l
yl•
The green fitting is
threaded to the pipe ---_�
♦ to provide height
adjusment
This area
moves in
sync with
the quake
Support Post
---- - - - -------------------------
Illustration C
Skirting inst
Suspended
Structure,
Ar" ture,
Suspended
tru non-moving
Skirting Fastened to non-
moving suspended
structure
Channel
Ground moving
A(�
0
kf) O 00
00 kn
M kn 01
N 6 00 ;n 06 CD
G.�
Va 6q 6g ff? 69
O O � N cn
N O O M �
O O
A O O O O O 01
N O t/) N O O 00
000 00
O
00 Cq
� cq �10
oo
rn O: rl' N 00 N C cd
ON
O O O �.+ O O 000 O �
O ^ ^ ^ O O O M O M CIS
N 00 ►fl N N ^� � r-I � � � .
a Cd cd
'� .�•I r O� l� M M N �p M
�}
E d4 N r•1 M ri d' ,d GO U U
, cdd
00 'c M ^
N 00 � NO�
� O•• c�d-' U)^
u4 V 6l9 ,C yN9 Gn a O
v' r�•1 O r d'
cd
d' O
kn O c cd O
ygeqN N 00 �"' U r•�-+ cad
lVIO�
V 6n •ai .� O
44 u M
N
O� \10 O .�
00 Q1 00 00 01 0\ 00 A t
ci O O O O O 0 C) O O 0
v
V O O O O O O O O O ..� .� M
An Airport with a single Runway that is Round and specially Banked
By Joseph C. Coomer
Accept that with just a round runway, although it would be infinity long, the centrifugal forces
would limit the speed causing the concept to be impractical if not impossible. (The flat round runway
has been studied by others and rejected.) The svecial banking is the key,
In order for the pilot to keep his aircraft on the correct bank angle that agrees with the speed and
radius of curvature, this arthur has designed an instrument that is just a tube shaped in a precise arc for
accuracy aroughly 60"in diameter, but the arc is only 2" long with a small heavy lead ball in the
center. For dampening, it is filled with a light oil or other clear liquid. (Accept that this is the concept
for the instrument only as it will require analysis and testing by others.) In theory, and viewed from the
front, if the aircraft's bank angle is correct, the heavy ball will remain in the center of the arc., if the
bank angle is too shallow, the ball will move to the right. If the aircraft's bank angle is too steep, the
ball will move to the left. (Should a pilot ignore this requirement and go from a bank angle for 160 mph
to a bank angle for 120 while his taxi speed is still at 160,he would be subjected to possible major
centrifugal forces, that could be dangerous!) When the ball remains in the center of the arc, the aircraft
would be turning in a "coordinated"turn. where there are no centrifugal forces.
This unique condition is from the study of physics that states,
'In a turn there exist a vrecise bank angle at a certain "speed"and "radius of curvature,"where the
resultinQ_centrifugal force vector is combined with the gravity force one to form a new vector that is
normal to this bank angle „(Again, and very importantin a coordinated turn, there are no
centri ugal forces.)
Now to consider the advantages of this runway over a straight one are:
• The increased takeoff speed is a major improvement.A pilot can keep his aircraft on the runway
as long as he wishes,to attain any speed desired limited only by the structural strength of the
tires.Accept that that this is feasible, but not practicle. Normally, there would be one side for
arriving aircraft, and the opposite for departing ones.
• Aircraft would always be taking off and landing directly into the wind. Cross wind landings
would no longer be necessary.
• Visualize that aircraft would be landing and taking off on tangent points (TPs) for reference.
The optimum tangent points would be normal(meaning perpendicular) to the current wind
direction and +/- 90 degrees from it.(An example if the wind is out of the south (180 degrees)
the optimum TPs are TP9 and TP27 for 90 and 270 degrees.
• Should the airport need more capacity, the traffic controller could use more TPs for referencee
like add one10 degrees before and one 10 degrees aft of the optimum TP for both arriving and
departing Aircraft. This gives the airport a huge capability of 6 active TPs. (In practice the
traffic controller may ask the pilot how much"roll distance"he wants and the controller will
give the pilot his start TP and this rotation TP. Accept that this concept is totally new and what
becomes the routine practice is a TBD issue.)
• There are major improvements in air safety. With an extra long runway, those related accidents
would be eliminated.A pilot may increase his normal takeoff speed by over 20 mph, "just to be
safe." That would eliminate these accidents caused by lack of takeoff speed.Another point is a
landing aircraft would be almost directly over the runway for a thousand feet or more before
touchdown, so this would eliminate landing too short accidents,
• When one changes from a straight runway to a round one with straight runway length as its
USDA United States Forest Wasblogton Office 14001ndependence Avenue,SW
Department of Service 1Vashlngton,D.C.20250
Agriculture
File Code: 5100(8809697)'
Date: June 1,2022
..Mr.Joseph C.Coomer
2920 N. Heller Road MH#E
Oak Harbor,WA 98277
Dear Mr.Coomer:
Thank you for your letter of February 10,2022,to U.S.Department of Agriculture's Forest
Service Chief Randy Moore,regarding the use of C-5M military aircraft on wildland fire
incidents, Chief Moore has asked me to respond to your letter. I apologize for the delayed
response.
The U.S.Department of Agriculture's Forest Service successfully suppresses approximately
98 percent of wildfires on Forest Service lands during initial attack,even though fire complexity
has significantly increased over the years. As we have stated in previous correspondence,
aircraft are only one component of our firefighting arsenal. The Forest Service primarily uses
contracts to access a wide variety of helicopters,small fixed-wing aircraft,and large and very
large airtankers to achieve the suppression mission. The variety and size of the commercial
aircraft fleet currently at our disposal provides flexibility to employ aircraft that are appropriate
for the geography,fire behavior,topography,and length of season. Moving responsibility of
firefighting to the military and utilizing a single make and model aircraft for this mission
eliminates the ability to assign an appropriate mix of aviation assets to ensure that every wildfire
receives a risk-informed and effective response. Additionally,the converted C-5M aircraft may
have many distinguishing features,but companies are not proposing them as a contract airtanker.
Without proposals,the Forest Service is unable to evaluate C5M aircraft for airworthiness,
operational and safety requirements,as well as effectiveness capabilities in the aerial firefighting
environment.
Thank you for your continued interest in wildland fire management on National Forest System
lands. If you need further assistance,please contact Paul Linse,Assistant Director of Aviation at
paul,linse wsda.gov.
Sincerely,
JEROME E. PEREZ
Director,Fire and Aviation Management