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| Friday, September 29, 2006 |
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Fighting firefighting 
| | A strange thing has been happening in regards to the two Supertankers (a DC-10 and a 747 which have been converted from airliners to air-tankers). Despite the fact that management for both aircraft have been rushing their respective planes through FAA and Air-Tanker Board certification, fire managers have been reluctant to keep them in the order of battle on the Day Fire, one of the largest and longest-burning in California history. The DC-10 conducted an impressive drop on a ridgeline on Sunday, a drop which fire managers credited with stopping the fire dead in its tracks on that front. But after that nothing. There were no further calls from fire managers for additional drops the rest of the week, even after the fire jumped a CAT line and roared into Lockwood Valley, threatening homes in several isolated communities. The Ten-Tanker (as the DC-10 managers called their plane), simply sat on the tarmac at Victorville without serving as anything more than a backdrop for a local news broadcast by NBC. |
| | I don't see anything about it on the mainstream news. |
Code bait
| | Doc knows what he wants, but not knowing how to program is like having no hands. Who will help him build it? |
| | Well, programmers do step forward. On the project I'm talking about, one programmer whose work I love (and many of us are using) has already showed up with some Good Stuff. |
Day Fire progress
| | As of 6:00 p.m. today, the fire has burned 160,570 acres and is 63 percent contained with 19 miles of line remaining to be built (34 miles of line was secured today). At total of 4,788 personnel are assigned to the fire. Ground forces are being supported by 9 airtankers, 28 helicopters, 58 engines, 44 dozers and 40 water tenders. Suppression cost to date is $57,524,249. |
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