NO kidding! A sad state of afairs there now. The big Martin Mars water bomber from British Columbia is heading into California to help douse those flames. The world's largest active propeller driven water bombers and the largest seaplanes ever to enter production.
I sure hope it helps !
Cheers, Barrie.

Here is to hoping the situation will soon be brought under control and people can try to get their life's back in order 😐

Thanks to British Columbia for volunteering their help 8)

Here's a few pics of the Martin Mars water bomber on a Google image search.
http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=Martin+Mars+water+bomber+&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

Cheers, Barrie,

Barrie, Thanks for the link!

I heard this plane was grounded all day yesterday while trying to get clearance from customs, what is wrong with these people ❓

News report this morning was that it hit a bird on the way there, and was grounded for repairs. California officials are "inspecting" the plane (probably right now). Expecting a green light and should be over the fire area within an hour or two.

I heard about about the Customs thing on NPR ( was assuming US side )

Glad things seem to have been sorted out 8)

Steve

Apparently not customs this time (tho' Canadians are used to grumbling about customs...me included)

You want to hear another one?
Kelowna in the Okanagan had devastating fires in 2003, hundreds of homes burnt to the ground, thousands of acres blackened.

Early on in the stages of the fire, people complained that the government/forest service didn't react quickly enough...that they could've brought in the water bomber(s). I am trying to remember the facts but I think there was already one bomber deployed.

The fire kept raging and people said "where is the other water bomber?" It was reported on the news that "it was sitting in Victoria Harbour (about 400 miles away)...because what if there's a fire down here, too?"

Other comments were that it could not get approval from the environment department (of government) to land in Okanagan Lake to take up water to fight the fire. It apparently needed a permit to fight the fire..

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- As wildfires were charging across Southern California, nearly two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two massive cargo planes sat idly by, grounded by government rules and bureaucracy.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WILDFIRES_GROUNDED_AIRCRAFT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-10-25-18-03-56

A little bit of common sense would go a long ways.............. 🙂

My heart goes out to people affected by the fires in southern California. I know first hand how they feel. We were evacuated for three days During the Okanagan Mountain fire. The worst fire wild fire in Canadian history August 2003. We didn`t lose our house luckily but we knew people that did. Here are some photos of the Okanagan Mountain Fire. Credit is given to all who took photos.
http://groups.msn.com/OkanaganMountainFire/shoebox.msnw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okanagan_Mountain_Fire

John, those pictures bring back a lot of memories.
Glad you and yours made it through.

The sheer number of folks who volunteered to help in any way they could amazed everyone.
Barb

Emailed pics from a friend's friend who lives in San Diego.
Pilot must've been gritting his teeth... 😯
Barb

Barb ... that's the Martin Mars water bomber stationed here on Vancouver Island.

Cheers, Barrie.

Barrie, I bet the pilot remembers seeing those folks on the shore... 😯
Considering the operating conditions, fire-fighting pilots are heroes.

Barb