Mars kept sitting on the sideline while LA county burns...

[warbirdcrew]

Courtesy of the Vancouver Sun:

Water bombers grounded by U.S. red tape
Sandra McCulloch, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, October 17, 2008

The Martin Mars water bomber based in Port Alberni was poised to assist in fighting raging wildfires near Los Angeles last week but instead got mired in bureaucracy, said the aircraft's owner yesterday.

Hawaii Mars has been in California since early July on a contract with the state. The aircraft landed on Lake Elsinore on Saturday, located 20 minutes from Los Angeles, after flying from its previous base at Lake Oroville in central California.

Before that, the Mars was at Lake Shasta where it worked at extinguishing numerous wildfires sparked by a lightning storm in June.

But despite its unique ability of dropping fire-suppressing foam on structures without causing damage, Hawaii Mars never got off the water last week to help with the fires near Los Angeles.

"We had our first taste of the bureaucracy of the infrastructure down there," said Wayne Coulson, owner of Coulson Flying Tankers of Port Alberni.

Fighting wildfires is an expensive proposition in California, last year costing the state $1 billion.

Last year, Hawaii Mars helped douse fires in San Diego county through its partnership with the state's forestry department. It dropped 163,000 litres of fire-suppressing gel on three fires there.

Last week's fires were all in Los Angeles county, and required a new set of negotiations for the Martin Mars to operate.

"The Mars was available, but trying to figure out how to contract it [to the county] was a major event," said Coulson. "We've never worked with L.A. county before and there's a whole group of different people and infrastructure."

However, the fire situation is under control partly due to the fact that the Santa Ana winds which normally fan wildfires were not as strong as they have been in other years.

"They normally last up to a week and this was only a short burst of a couple days," Coulson said.

Despite the lack of activity, the community around Lake Elsinore has welcomed the Martin Mars and its crew to the area off the Interstate 5 between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Hawaii Mars will return to its base at Sproat Lake in a few weeks and will remain here for the winter to undergo repairs and maintenance, Coulson said.

"We are starting to think about next year and we've got maintenance to do on the aircraft," he said.

It will take time to convince California's decision makers that the Martin Mars is safe to use on neighbourhoods threatened by wildfires, he said.

It is hoped talks over the winter make for smoother operation in California during next summer's fire season.

"We're working with everybody at all sorts of different levels," Coulson said.

[groundpounder]

what do they do with the other mars tanker?? is it retired or down for repairs??

[warbirdcrew]

I believe it is still at Sproat. The state contract was for one airplane, so the other stayed on the Island to respond to fires in BC.

[daveymac82c]

Jokingly speaking, I don't think there's going to be any forest fires in BC at the moment. Considering the heavy constant rain we had here in Vancouver, I think the forest fire threat is quite low.

Anyways, those old birds need rest occasionally.

Cheers,

David

[ZeamerB17]

Bureaucrat = Idiot.

The Hawaii Mars did a great job flying out of Lake Shasta this summer.
Right over my house! I miss her.

[vg-photo]

I love the way that the county governments can have such radically different rulesets that cause delays in getting equipment to the scene of an emergency. Every year, there is some controversy about not having enough firefighting air assets, yet we had one right in our back yard that was tied up in red tape.

Unbelievable...

[engguy]

Goes to show you what is most important to the idiots that we elect.
It for sure isn't your property/house etc.
Kinda reminds me of the US forest service cancleing fire bomber contracts, supposed because of the turboprop planes that crashed. Funny the good old DC7's and such keep on keepin on, but they were dumped as well. I think it was part of the deal to make ya think its a global warming problem, just a typical agenda. That I'm sure will soon be really forced down our throats after the election along with the new accompaning rules and taxes.

[lvkeith83]

I was at Lake Elsinore this morning , and did not see the Martin Mars it wasnt parked where its normally parked , no action or activity except for the Jump plane s at the skydive center.....

[Eric Presten]

Hi Wixers,

I would really like to catch up with this airplane and get some pictures of it for my next book. Can we give any spy reports about it and it's location on this thread so I might be able to catch it on it's way north? Are they hiring Californians to work on the ground crew, or are they all Canadians traveling from the Sproat Lake, B.C. Base? I would love to see one of those ground crew (or get a phone number) post on here so we could keep up with the airplanes movements here in CA. Any ideas?

Thanks, Eric Presten

[n5151ts]

...they hand out and all the free education they give to illegal aliens while legitimate working stiffs with kids have to pay for the same.....its probably just as well cause they wouldn't have even paid for the gas to fly the thing let alone the per hour costs of operation...your check is in the mail doesn't work well when the bills come due....END RANT!